
Mumbai:Mid-tier private sector lender Yes Bank reported a 2.6x increase in net income, reaching ₹612 crore in the December quarter. This growth was driven by a sharp decline in provisions and higher fee income. The strong profit performance signals the return of the bank’s retail business to near normalcy, as it begins to release capital previously locked in the RIFD."
In the previous quarter the bank, which is owned by other banks led by SBI, had reported a 150% jump in net income at ₹553 crore on core income.
Yes Bank's net income of ₹612 crore is 2.6 times higher than the same period a year ago. This growth is partly due to the release of ₹8,000 crore from the ₹44,000 crore previously locked in the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIFD), which had been stranded after failing to meet priority sector lending norms following its collapse in March 2020.
On a sequential basis, the net income rose 11%, highlighting steady growth for the lender.
Provisions and contingencies fell by over 50% on-year to ₹259 crore, signaling improved asset quality and operational efficiency. The management sounded confident of taking back the bank to better days going forward based on their better numbers in the past five quarters. Chief executive Prashant Kumar told media on Saturday that this is the fifth consecutive quarter of logging in positive earnings.
The key net interest income rose 10% to ₹2,223 crore, though net interest margin remained flat at 2.4% both annually and sequentially which Kumar and his chief financial officer Niranjan Banodkar attributed to the zero yielding assets stuck in the RIDF.
“We got released ₹8,000 crore from the RIFD in the third week of December so it did not have any material impact on the margins, this has brought down amount locked in ₹36,000 crore which is 8 percent of our total assets, down from 11 percent. And over the next two-three years it should be under-5%. Also we are adding 80 branches each year and this is adding to our fee income and also helping meet the PSL targets, which we are 100% compliant since the past few quarters,” Kumar and Banodkar explained.
Net interest income came in at ₹2,224 crore, up 10.2% despite margin remained flat at 2.4% both on annualised and sequential basis. The bottom line got a big boost with a ₹1,512 crore non-core income, up 26.6% led by the RIFD money coupled with a massive 50% decline in provisions at ₹259 crore down 53.4%.
Fee income consists of 1.5% of total assets up, which has gone up by 25 bps in the last eight quarters, Pendal said. Asset quality remained stable, with gross non-performing assets holding at 1.6%, down from 2% and net NPAs at a low 0.5% compared to 0.9%.Gross slippages during the quarter stood at ₹1,348 crore, slightly higher than ₹1,314 crore and as much as 45% of this came from unsecured retail loans.
The bank saw its loans clipping at 12.6% to ₹2.44 trillion but retail advances, declined to ₹99,805 crore from ₹1.03 trillion, making up 41% of total advances, a drop from 47% a year earlier. Its deposits rose nearly 15% to ₹2.77 trillion with the current account and savings account ratio improving to 33 from 30%.
The credit-to-deposit ratio of 88.3 was slightly lower than 89.9 a year earlier, reflecting cautious loan growth. Its retail, SME, and mid-corporate loan mix shifted slightly, ending the quarter at 58:16:26 compared to 63:14:23 a year ago. Despite minor declines in retail lending, the overall metrics indicate a focus on maintaining balance sheet stability while navigating growth.