Axis Bank Q4 profit at ₹7,130 cr; to raise ₹55K cr via debt, equity

Banking major Axis Bank reported its net profit for the January-March quarter of 2023-24 at ₹7,130 crore compared to the net loss of ₹5,728 crore in the same period last year. On a QoQ basis, the bank's net profit surged 17%. The bank’s operating profit for the quarter stood at ₹10,536 crore, growing 15% YoY and 15% QoQ.

The bank’s net interest income (NII) grew 11% YoY and 4% QoQ to ₹13,089 crore. The net interest margin (NIM) for Q4 FY24 stood at 4.06% and grew 5 bps QOQ.

In an exchange filing, Axis Bank says: "Fee income for Q4FY24 grew 23% YOY and 9% QOQ to ₹5,637 crore. Retail fees grew 33% YoY and 12% QoQ; and constituted 74% of the Bank’s total fee income."

Axis Bank MD and CEO Amitabh Chaudhry says in FY24, Axis Bank charted a course of steady progress. "While we relentlessly focused on our key priority areas - Bharat Banking, Digital and Sparsh (our customer obsession program), we were also nimble in picking up some enticing new opportunities that came our way. Our Citi integration is on track, and we are inching towards the final milestone LD2 in the next six months."

The private lender recorded total provision and contingencies for Q4 FY24 at ₹1,185 crore, while the specific loan loss provisions for Q4 FY24 stood at ₹832 crore.

For the full fiscal year, Axis Bank's profit surged 160% to ₹24,861 crore from ₹9,580 crore in FY23.

Axis Bank recorded net interest income of ₹49,894 crore, up 16% YoY, from ₹42,946 crore in the previous fiscal. Fee income grew 28% YoY to ₹20,257 crore, while the operating profit grew 16% to ₹37,123 crore from ₹32,048 crore in FY23. The bank's core operating profit grew 10% to ₹35,393 crore from ₹32,291 crore in FY23. The total provisions for FY24 stood at ₹4,063 crore, up 53% YoY.

In terms of balance sheet, Axis Bank reported 12% growth at ₹14,77,209 crore as on March 31, 2024. "The total deposits grew 13% YoY, of which savings account deposits grew 2% YoY, current 3 account deposits grew 5% YoY; and total term deposits grew 22% YoY."

On asset quality, Axis Bank says its gross NPA and net NPA levels were 1.43% and 0.31%, respectively, as of March 31, 2024, against 1.58% and 0.36% as on December 31, 2023. The Axis Bank board has recommended dividend of Re 1 per equity share of face value of ₹2 per equity share for FY24.

Axis Bank's board has also approved raising of ₹55,000, which includes fundrasing via the issue of debt instruments of up to ₹35,000 crore and by issue of equity shares or depository receipts up to ₹20,000 crore.