Axis Bank Q1 profit soars 91% to ₹4,125 cr

Private lender Axis Bank on Monday reported a 91% year-on-year jump in net profit to ₹4,125 crore in the quarter ended June 2022. The bank had clocked ₹2,160 crore profit in Q1 FY22.

The bank's net interest income (NII) grew 21% year-on-year to ₹9,384 crore in the first quarter, according to its exchange filing. Net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter stood at 3.6%, up 14 basis points (bps) year-on-year and 11 bps quarter-on-quarter.

Core operating profit of the private lender grew 17% year-on-year and 5% quarter-on-quarter, the filing says.

Fee income during the quarter grew 34% year-on-year to ₹3,576 crore. Retail fees jumped 43% YOY and constituted 66% of the bank’s total fee income. Retail Assets - excluding cards and payments - fee grew 81% YOY.

The lender made specific loan loss provisions worth ₹777 crore in the first quarter compared with ₹602 crore in Q4 FY22. The bank held cumulative provisions of ₹11,830 crore at the end of Q1 FY23.

As on June 30, 2022 the bank's reported gross non-performing assets (NPA) and net NPA levels were 2.76% and 0.64% respectively as against 2.82% and 0.73% as on March 31, 2022.

Gross slippages during the quarter were ₹3,684 crore compared to ₹3,981 crore in Q4FY22 and ₹6,518 crore in Q1 FY22.

Recoveries and upgrades from NPAs during the quarter were ₹2,957 crore. Consequently, the net slippages in NPAs (before write-offs) for the quarter of ₹727 crore as compared to ₹218 crore in Q4FY22 and ₹3,976 crore in Q1FY22, the lender says.

Axis Bank issued 0.99 million new credit cards in Q1FY23. The lender has been one of the highest credit card issuers in the country in the last two quarters, with incremental market share of 17%. Credit card spends were up 96% YoY during the quarter.

The lender's balance sheet grew 14% year-on-year and stood at ₹11,52,580 crore as on June 30, 2022.

Advances grew 14% YOY to ₹7,01,130 crore as on June 30, 2022. The bank's loan to deposit ratio stood at 87%. Retail loans grew 25% YOY and 3% QOQ to ₹4,12,683 crore and accounted for 59% of the net advances of the bank.

The AUM for Burgundy Private – its wealth management business – increased 35% YOY to ₹85,649 crore.

"As an institution, we continue to make good progress despite the macroeconomic headwinds that pose a challenge at multiple levels, both domestically and to the larger global economy. We continue to strengthen our core, as we open up all doors of growth and development, keeping our priorities intact on building a nimble, smart and customer obsessed bank," says Amitabh Chaudhry, managing director and CEO, Axis Bank.

The book value of the lender's investments portfolio was ₹2,97,765 crore as of June 30, of which ₹2,48,510 crore were in government securities, while ₹41,784 crore were invested in corporate bonds and ₹7,471 crore in other securities such as equities, mutual funds, etc.

Out of these, 66% are in held till maturity (HTM) category, while 31% of investments are available for sale (AFS) and 3% are in held for trading (HFT) category.