Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has posted 98 per cent rise in net profit at ₹112.72 crore during the fourth quarter of FY15, even as its gross non-performing assets (NPAs) for the entire fiscal doubled to ₹6,402 crore on a year-on-year basis.
The Pune-based bank had registered a net profit of ₹57 crore in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal. Senior bank officials attributed the rise in profit during the reporting quarter to higher non-interest income.
The bank’s total income from operations stood at ₹3,599 crore against ₹3,372 crore in the same period last year. The 6 per cent rise was mainly on the back of better treasury and wholesale banking operations.
On an annual basis, BoM’s net profit rose 17 per cent to ₹450.7 crore against ₹385.97 crore in FY14. The total business touched ₹2.23 lakh crore against ₹2.07 lakh crore, representing growth of 7.8 per cent. Gross advances grew 12 per cent YoY to cross ₹1 lakh crore.
Speaking on the doubling gross NPAs from 3.16 per cent to 6.33 per cent in FY15, S Muhnot, Chairman and Managing Director, BoM, said that nearly 32 per cent of the ₹6,402-crore bad loans came from large corporates mainly from the infrastructure and steel industry. “The bank had lent to infrastructure projects which are stuck up. I expect this pain to continue for at least another two quarters,” he said.
During the current fiscal, the bank may see further rise in NPAs in the agriculture sector on account of the crop failures due to unseasonal rains. Last year, the sector accounted for 6.12 per cent of the total gross NPAs.