MUMBAI: An improvement in the asset quality has helped public sector lender Indian Overseas Bank on Thursday report a record Rs 808 crore net income for the March quarter, up from Rs 650 crore in the year-ago period, making it the highest-ever number for the Chennai-headquartered bank.
Similarly, the bank also reported its highest-ever annual earnings at Rs 2,656 crore for FY24, up from Rs 2,099 crore in FY23. Overall its bad loan piles have more than halved in the reporting period, leading to lesser provisions; on the other hand, the bank also made near record recoveries, that too from written off account, leading to write back of provisions made earlier.
Ajay Kumar Srivastava, chief executive of the bank, attributed the healthy set of numbers to the “exceptional control over slippages, with only Rs 1,517 crore of slippages in the quarter, accounting for only 0.87% of performing advance. Another boost was the recoveries which printed in at Rs 4,549 crore, of which recovery in the quarter was Rs 1,468 crore as against Rs 1,400 crore a year ago. Of the total recoveries claw-back technically written off accounts stood at Rs 2372.44 crore.
The most important aspect driving the net income was the massive improvement in the bad loan piles, he said, adding the gains on the margin side too aided the bottom line. The all-important net interest margin rose by 33 bs to 3.53% in the quarter.
Total income during the quarter went up to Rs 9,112.67 crore from Rs 6,630.57 crore in the same quarter last year and the same for the year soared to Rs 29,730.97 crore from Rs 23,523.42 crore.