RBL Bank Q1 net profit grows 29% to Rs 372 cr

Mumbai: Private sector lender RBL Bank on Saturday reported a 29 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 372 crore for the June quarter.

The bank's core net interest income grew 20 per cent to 1,700 crore on the back of a 19 per cent rise in advances. Its net interest margin was 5.67 per cent.

The other income grew 18 per cent to Rs 805 crore.

The bank's deposit growth came at 18 per cent during the quarter and was attributed to the differentiated offerings by its managing director and chief executive R Subramaniakumar.

The incremental deposit growth will be able to meet the incremental advance growth for the bank going forward, he said.

On the advances front, the bank will focus on secured retail products like business loans and housing loans going forward, he said, adding that the two cumulatively grew by 19 per cent, while housing rose 52 per cent and rural vehicle surged 74 per cent.

From an asset quality perspective, it witnessed higher stress with the net slippages in the credit card portfolio coming at Rs 400 crore.

The MD said over Rs 60 crore of it came from a transition in the management of the portfolio to within the bank from a co-brand partner, and added that the bank expects a part of it to reverse to become well-performing in a couple of quarters.

The overall gross non-performing assets ratio improved to 2.69 per cent from 3.22 per cent in the year-ago period.

It had to halt microfinance disbursals during the first two months of the quarter due to the elections, but the same is now getting normalised.

Its collection efficiencies have also slipped in some pockets, and it expects to come back on the same going ahead.

A senior bank official said that the NIMs will be flat for the first two quarters, and it expects an increase in the number in the second half of the fiscal.

The overall capital adequacy stood at 15.56 per cent, of which the core buffer was 13.85 per cent. The MD said that while it is approaching the shareholders with an enabling provision to raise money, there are no immediate plans to raise capital in the current fiscal.