Central Bank of India Q4 profit jumps 41% to Rs 807 crore

New Delhi: State-owned Central Bank of India on Tuesday reported a 41 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 807 crore for the March quarter, helped by a decline in bad loans and a rise in interest income.

The Mumbai-based lender had earned a net profit of Rs 571 crore in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, the bank's total income increased to Rs 9,699 crore as against Rs 8,567 crore a year ago, Central Bank of India said in a regulatory filing.

Interest income grew to Rs 8,337 crore during the period under review from Rs 7,144 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

On the asset quality side, the bank's gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) were reduced to 4.5 per cent of gross advances as of March 31, 2024, compared to 8.44 per cent by the end of March 2023.

Net NPAs also came down to 1.23 per cent of the advances over 1.77 per cent at the end of 2024.

The fall in bad loans ratio helped cut the provisions towards NPAs for Q4FY24 to Rs 509 crore compared to Rs 789 crore a year ago.

The board also approved raising of capital up to Rs 5,000 crore through a Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) or rights issue, Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) issue, or any other mode or through issue of BASEL III Compliant Tier I and Tier II bonds or such other securities as may be permitted under applicable laws etc, it said.

Provision Coverage Ratio stood at 93.58 per cent as on March 31, 2024.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio declined to 15.08 per cent from 14.12 per cent at the end of FY23.