Bandhan Bank Q3 net profit soars 36% to ₹859 crore

Net profit of private lender Bandhan Bank rose 36% year-on-year to ₹859 crore in the October-December quarter compared with ₹632.6 crore in the year-ago period.

Its net Interest Income (NII) grew 2.6% to ₹2,124.7 crore in the third quarter of the ongoing financial year as against ₹2,071.7 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Non-interest income jumped 26.7% to ₹712.3 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2021 against ₹562.3 crore in the same quarter of the previous year.

The bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) surged significantly to 10.81% (₹9,441.6 crore) of gross advances in the quarter ended December compared with 1.1% in the year-ago period. Gross NPAs stood at 10.82% (₹8,763.6 crore) in the quarter ended September.

Net non-performing assets stood at ₹2,413.1 crore (3.01%) at the end of December quarter against ₹2,265.8 crore (3.04%) in the previous quarter.

The lender’s operating profit for the quarter increased by 1.4% to ₹1,950.1 crore against ₹1,923.1 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

“We have seen all round recovery during the quarter with improved collection and increase in disbursement. Q4 historically has been the best quarter for the bank and we are positive of our business going forward,” says Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, managing director and chief executive officer of Bandhan Bank.

“With group loan share in total advances reduced to 52%, the bank is on track to achieve the diversification strategy which it had laid down for FY25,” he says.

Net interest margin for the quarter ended December 31, 2021 stood at 7.8% against 7.6% in the previous quarter.

The lender added 0.8 million customers during the quarter, taking its total customer base to 25.1 million.

Total advances of the bank grew by 9.6% to ₹87,997.7 crore as on December 31, 2021 against ₹80,255.2 crore as on December 31, 2020.

The lender’s total Deposits increased by 18.7% to ₹84,499.8 crore as on December 31, 2021 as compared to ₹71,188.3 crore as on December 31, 2020.

Banking outlets stood at 5,626. The network consists of 1,176 branches, 4,450 banking units as against 1,107 branches and 4,090 banking units as on December 31, 2020. Total number of ATMs stood at 489 at the end of December quarter against 487 as on December 31, 2020.

During the quarter, the number of employees of the bank has gone up from 52,976 to 55,341.