MUMBAI: A stake sale in its general insurance subsidiary has boosted standalone net income of the fourth largest private sector lender, Kotak Mahindra Bank, by 81% to Rs 6,250 crore, of which as much as Rs 3,012 crore came in as the one-time income from deal with Zurich Insurance group that picked up 70% in the company during June quarter. In April-June quarter of last fiscal, it had booked only Rs 3,452 crore profit.
That means keeping the insurance stake aside, consolidating net profit stood at Rs 4,435 crore, the bank said on Saturday. Net interest income of the lender was Rs 6,842 crore, 10% more than the Rs 6,234 crore it had in the same period last fiscal. In fact, none of the numbers met the street expectations as the bank’s business was hit by the RBI ban on digital and mobile banking channels from the middle of April for not meeting KYC requirements and also for not fully securing customer data from a technical angle.
“The RBI ban on digital and mobile banking channels had quite an impact on financials – saw temporary disruption on digital journeys, 811 business and credit cards, “ the management told reporters at the earnings call Saturday.
They claimed that they “have made major progress during the quarter with respect to IT infrastructure” but didn’t share any details. They said in consultation with the RBI, they have put together a plan in place with Accenture, and Infosys for the tech upgrade.
“We have also started the the RBI mandated external audit and have appointed GT Bharat as external auditors in consultation with the regulator.