NEW DELHI: Private lender Axis Bank on Thursday reported an unexpected fourth-quarter loss, which is also the lender’s first quarterly loss since its listing in 1998.Net loss stood at Rs 2,189 crore as against a profit of Rs 1,225 crore a year ago. For the entire fiscal FY18, profit plunged 92.5 per cent over the previous year.Perhaps to sooth investors’ nerves, who may likely dump Axis’ shares on Friday, the bank’s senior management clarified that it was done airing all its dirty financial laundry (read NPAs and provisioning), and that the road ahead was all-clear.
Outgoing chief executive officer & managing director Shikha Sharma admitted placing some incorrect bets on infrastructure, particularly power, where over 40 per cent of the loan book turned toxic, while Jairam Sridharan, chief financial officer, assured that the NPA recognition cycle was finally over, the ‘watchlist’ done and dusted and will cease to exist. The bank, however, hasn’t finalised on the successor to Sharma, who will bid goodbye in December.
Buckling under pressure from the central bank’s latest regulations, provisions spiked three-fold during the quarter to Rs 7,179 crore — including 65 per cent for all proceedings in bankruptcy court — compared to Rs 2,581 crore last year, while slippages shot up to a staggering Rs 16,536 crore.
Total income during the quarter ended March, 2018 stood at Rs 14,500 crore, marginally up from Rs 14,181 crore last year. Total income during the fiscal increased to Rs 56,747 crore, from Rs 56,233 crore, while net interest income during the fourth quarter of the last fiscal remained flat at Rs 4,730 crore.
Meanwhile, gross NPAs stood at 6.77 per cent of the gross advances as on March, 2018 as against 5.04 per cent during the corresponding the previous year. In absolute terms, gross NPAs stood at Rs 34,248 crore as on March, 2018, up from Rs 21,280 crore in the previous year. Similarly, net NPAs stood at 3.40 per cent (Rs 16,591 crore) as against 2.11 per cent (Rs 8,626 crore).