MUMBAI: Kotak Mahindra Bank on Saturday reported a 26% rise in its standalone net profit at Rs 3,495 crore for the quarter ended March this year, compared to Rs 2,767 crore in the same quarter the previous year, driven by strong growth in net interest income.
The bank is open for acquisitions to fuel its growth, said Uday Kotak, chief executive officer and managing director, Kotak Mahindra Bank. “We as a bank can grow at 1.5 times to 2 times the rate of growth in nominal GDP,” said Kotak, addressing a press conference held on Saturday. “We are open to small acquisitions, we are not afraid of big acquisitions. So we are open (for acquisitions) and we continue to stay hungry,” he added.
The bank, in February this year, acquired micro-finance company Sonata Finance for Rs 537 crore in an all-cash deal. the Lucknow-based microlender will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the bank after getting approvals from the Reserve Bank of India.
The net interest income (NII) of the bank jumped 35% from to Rs 6,103 crore during the quarter while other income rose 28.2% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2,186 crore. Talking about Uday Kotak’s appointment as a non-executive, non-independent Director of the bank, Jaimin Bhatt, Group CFO of the bank said the appointment is in the interest of bank and the shareholders. Uday Kotak is set to retire as MD & CEO in December 2023. The bank has recently received shareholder approval to appoint Uday Kotak as a non-executive, non-independent director.
“We have gone in accordance with the rules and regulations, and we do believe it is in the interest of the stakeholders,” said Bhatt. He added they have not received any communication from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the reappointment front. Gross non-performing asset ratio for the bank declined by 12 basis points sequentially to 1.78% while net NPA improved to 0.37 percent as of March 31, 2023 compared with 0.43 percent as of December 31, 2022.
Total deposits grew by 16.5% YoY during the quarter to Rs 3.63 lakh crore. Total advances rose 18% YoY and rose to Rs 3.19 lakh crore in Q4FY23 from Rs 2.71 lakh crore in Q4 FY22. Net interest margin (NIM) was 5.33% for FY23 and 5.75% for Q4FY23. The bank added 2.2 million customers in the March quarter. Total customers stood at 41.2 million as on March 31, 2023 compared to 32.7 million same period last year.