Mid-sized private sector lender RBL Bank, which recently made history by bringing in the largest FDI inflows into a domestic bank by getting $3 billion from the UAE based Emirates NBD for a 60% stake, has reported a robust set of numbers with the net profit for the December quarter surging multifold to Rs 214 crore from Rs 33 crore a year ago.
The bank's chief executive R Subramaniakumar told reporters Saturday that the growth was driven by the steady core operating performance and a sharp improvement in asset quality, even as earnings got impacted by one-off employee-related expenses towards the new labour code.
The private sector lender said profit for the quarter was affected by a one-time pre-tax expense of Rs 32 crore following a revision in the definition of wages under the new labour codes, effective November 2025. In the year-ago quarter, the bank had reported a net profit of Rs 33 crore.
Net interest income, the key measure of a bank’s core earnings, rose 5% to Rs 1,657 crore and net interest margin rose to 4.63, from 4.51% in the previous quarter.
Ahead of the quarterly results, its shares climbed over 4% on Friday to Rs 324.5. The stock has more than doubled in last one year.
Other income, excluding a one-off gain from the sale of a strategic equity investment, grew 13% to Rs 1,050 crore, while core fee income rose 10% to Rs 959 crore.
Operating expenses rose 8% to Rs 1,795 crore but cost efficiency improved with the cost-to-income ratio declining to 66.3 from 70.7 in the September quarter.
Net advances increased 14% to Rs 1.03 trillion and the retail-to-wholesale advances mix stood at 59:41. Within the retail portfolio, secured retail advances grew 24% and the unsecured retail advances declined 5%. Overall retail advances grew 10% to Rs 60,611 crore and wholesale advances rose 21% to Rs 42,475 crore, led by commercial banking, which posted 30%.
On the liabilities side, total deposits increased 12% to Rs 1.2 trillion of which the low-cost Casa deposits grew 6% to Rs 36,972 crore, with the Casa ratio printing in at 30.9.
Asset quality improved meaningfully during the quarter, with gross non-performing assets declining 45 bps to 1.88% from 2.32% and net NPAs stood at 0.55%, marginally lower than 0.57% and the provision coverage ratio, including technical write-offs, remained strong at 93.2.