EconomyBanking
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank posts record ₹365 crore profit, deposits top ₹50,000 crore
The small finance bank nearly tripled its profit from a year ago while interest income rose 35%. Its board approved a ₹409 crore preferential share issue.
Key points
- Net profit rose to a record ₹365 crore, nearly three times the year-ago figure.
- Deposits crossed ₹50,000 crore for the first time, reaching ₹50,643 crore.
- Gross bad loans fell to 2.10% from 2.45% a year earlier.
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank reported its highest-ever quarterly profit on Friday, with net profit of ₹365 crore for the July-September quarter. That was up 199.9% from a year earlier, when it earned roughly ₹122 crore, and 15.3% from the June quarter. The results came on the same evening as Urban Company’s and a day before HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank reported.
Net interest income, the bank’s earnings from lending after paying depositors, rose 35% to ₹1,244 crore, also a record.
Bigger and cleaner
Deposits crossed ₹50,000 crore for the first time, reaching ₹50,643 crore, up 29.2% from a year earlier and 5.2% from June. Current and savings account deposits grew 22.2% to ₹13,176 crore, a CASA ratio of 26%.
The gross loan book grew 32.1% to ₹45,699 crore, and disbursements in the quarter rose 32.3% to ₹10,495 crore.
Asset quality improved. The gross non-performing assets ratio fell to 2.10% from 2.45% a year earlier, and net NPAs more than halved to 0.31% from 0.67%.
Fresh capital
The board approved raising ₹409 crore through a preferential issue of shares, subject to shareholder approval. A preferential issue places new shares with chosen investors rather than through a public offer, and would add to the capital supporting a loan book that is growing by about a third a year.
The shares closed 1.94% lower at ₹63.25 on the NSE on Friday. Trading resumes on Monday.