Indian Bank net jumps 52% at Rs 2,119 crore on higher income and better assets

 The public sector Indian Bank on Wednesday reported a 52 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 2,119 crore in the December quarter, on the back of improvements in core income and a reduction in bad loans.

The Chennai-based lender had earned a net profit of Rs 1,396 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The operating profit of the bank was almost flat at Rs 4,097 crore as against Rs 4,061 crore in December 2022.

Total income increased to Rs 16,099 crore during the quarter under review as compared to Rs 13,551 crore in the same period last year, Indian Bank said in a regulatory filing.

Interest income also rose to Rs 14,198 crore over Rs 11,834 crore for the quarter ended December 2022.

On the asset quality front, the bank's gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) declined to 4.47 per cent of the gross loans by the end of December 2023 from 6.53 per cent a year ago.

Similarly, net NPAs or bad loans came down to 0.53 per cent as compared to 1 per cent in 2022.

As a result, provisions for bad loans declined to Rs 906 crore from Rs 1,474 crore a year ago.

The bank's provision coverage ratio stood at 95.90 per cent at the end of the December quarter.

The capital adequacy ratio marginally declined to 15.58 per cent from 15.74 per cent at the end of the December quarter of FY22.