New Delhi, May 7: State-owned Allahabad Bank today posted 68.5 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 126.15 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 on account of rise in bad loans.
The bank had a net profit of Rs 400.22 crore in the same period last year, Allahabad Bank said in a filing to the BSE.
Gross non-performing assets (NPAs), as a proportion of advances, increased to 3.92 per cent at the end of March 2013, against 1.83 per cent in the previous fiscal. Net NPAs also rose to 3.19 per cent during the year from 0.98 per cent at the end of March 2012.
Total income of the bank rose to Rs 4,776.90 crore in January-March quarter compared to Rs 4,523.38 crore in the same period previous fiscal.
The Kolkata-based bank proposed a dividend of 60 per cent, or Rs 6, per share for 2012-2013.
For the entire fiscal ended March 31, 2013, the bank's net profit declined 7 per cent at Rs 1,185.21 crore, compared to Rs 1,866.78 crore in 2011-12.
Total income increased to Rs 18,912.60 crore during the year, compared to Rs 16,821.96 crore in the previous fiscal.
Chairperson and Managing Director of Allahabad Bank Shubhalakshmi Pandse said the fall in quarterly net was due to accretion to NPAs, restructure of certain portfolios and provisioning for wage revision and pension liabilities.
She said the operating profit of the bank also decreased to Rs 767 crore during the January-March quarter as against Rs 901 crore in the corresponding period previous fiscal.
The net interest margin of the bank fell to 2.30 at the end of March 31, 2013, as compared to 3.23 in the year-ago period.
The total business of the bank during the quarter touched Rs 3.09 lakh crore, with advances at Rs 1.30 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 1.78 lakh crore, she said.
She said that the bank had been shedding bulk deposits which had resulted in fall in cost of deposits and focusing on strengthening CASA (current account, savings account).
Pandse said that the target for March 2014 was to touch a business volume of Rs 3.60 lakh crore.
The target for gross NPA was to reduce in from 3.92 per cent to 3.30 per cent.
She said that the bank was Basel-III compliant.
