Analysts had expected the state-owned bank to report a net profit of Rs 1,042.6 crore for the reported quarter.
The bank’s provisions for bad loans rose 44 per cent on-year during the quarter to Rs 4,593 crore. At the same time, the lender’s gross non-performing assets ratio stood at 8.87 as against 8.48 a quarter ago on a reported basis. The net NPA ratio was at 3.09 per cent as compared to 2.39 per cent reported in the previous quarter.
The lender’s bottomline was also affected by a sharp rise in tax expense to Rs 3,726 crore as against a tax write-back of Rs 2,230 crore in the year-ago quarter.
The public sector lender’s net interest income in the quarter rose 4.5 per cent on-year to Rs 7,107 crore. The non-interest bearing business had a stellar quarter as income rose 71 per cent on-year to Rs 4,848 crore.
Bank of Baroda’s pre-provision operating profit rose 27.3 per cent on-year to Rs 6,266 crore for the quarter ended March. Net interest margin of the lender deteriorated on-year by three basis points to 2.73 per cent.
The lender’s loan book grew 4.9 per cent on-year during the quarter to Rs 6.4 lakh crore, while deposits climbed 6.2 per cent to Rs 8.6 lakh crore. However, the retail loan portfolio showed firm growth of 14.4 per cent on-year to Rs 1.2 lakh crore.
On Friday, shares of Bank of Baroda ended 0.4 per cent higher at Rs 83.9 on the National Stock Exchange.
