Mumbai: Allahabad Bank on Friday reported a net loss of Rs.581.13 crore for the March quarter due to higher provisions and lower net interest income.
The loss was restricted due to a tax write-back of Rs.1,032.77 crore in the March quarter, compared with a tax expense of Rs.175.05 crore in the year ago period.
This was the second consecutive quarter when the bank reported a net loss. The bank reported a profit of Rs.202.63 crore a year ago.
Net interest income (NII), or the core income a bank earns by giving loans, fell 12.57% to Rs.1,273.70 crore from Rs.1,456.85 crore in the year ago period. Non-interest income fell 2% to Rs.554.73 crore from Rs.565.86 crore in the same period last year.
Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose 84.07% to Rs.15,384.57 crore at the end of the March quarter from Rs.8,357.97 crore a year ago. The bank reported gross NPA of Rs.6,307.54 crore a quarter ago.
Provisions and contingencies almost quadrupled to Rs.2,487.15 crore in the quarter from Rs.631.11 crore a year ago. In the December quarter the bank reported Rs.1,208.15 crore of provisions.
In December, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conducted an asset quality review across the banking sector, following which banks were asked to recognize visibly stressed assets as NPAs.
RBI also asked banks to make adequate provisions for these stressed assets over the third and fourth quarters of the fiscal year that ended in March.
As a percentage of total loans, gross NPAs stood at 9.76% at the end of the March quarter compared with 6.4% in the previous quarter and 5.46% in the year-ago quarter.
Net NPAs were at 6.76%, compared with 4.23% in the previous quarter and 3.99% in the same quarter last year.
On Friday, Allahabad Bank shares closed at Rs.52.50 apiece on BSE, down 1.7%, while the benchmark Sensex fell 1.2% to close at 25,489.57 points.
