Private sector lender IDFC First Bank on Saturday reported a 134% year-on-year (YoY) rise in its net profit for the quarter ended March at Rs 803 crore, primarily due to higher growth in net interest income (NII).
For Q4FY23, IDFC First Bank’s NII, which reflects difference between interest earned and expended, grew 35% y-o-y to Rs 3,597 crore. The growth in NII was led by strong growth in advances. As on March 31, IDFC First Bank’s total advances stood at Rs 1.60 trillion, up 24% YoY. Of the total advances, home loans rose 39% YoY to Rs 19,552 crore as on March end, loans against property or LAP grew 11% YoY to Rs 20,199 crore, consumer loans grew 20% YoY to Rs 20,819 crore and corporate loans grew 9% y-o-y to Rs 25,894 crore.
The bank said in the last five years, its infrastructure financing book as a percentage of overall loan book has down from 37% in 2018 to 2.9% as of March 31. In absolute terms, the bank’s infrastructure financing loans stood at Rs 4,664 crore, lower 32% on a y-o-y basis.
On the liabilities side, total deposits grew 47% y-o-y to Rs 1.36 trillion as on March end. Low-cost current account and savings account ratio (CASA) also improved to 50% as on March 31 from 48% a year ago. “We sincerely thank all our stakeholders for their goodwill towards us even while we were building the foundation with a strong deposit franchise and CASA of nearly 50%. Now the bank is firmly into profits, and we believe we can deliver strong financial performance from here on,” said V Vaidyanathan, managing director and chief executive officer (MD, CEO) at IDFC FIRST Bank.
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As on March end, the bank’s gross non-performing asset ratio stood at 2.51%, lower than 3.70% a year ago. Net NPA, meanwhile, reduced to 0.86% as on March 31 from 1.53% a year ago. “More importantly, I’m happy to share that the asset quality remains high. On the retail side, the Gross NPA is 1.65% and the net NPA is at 0.55%, against the guidance of Gross NPA of 2.0% and NNPA of less than 1%. If we exclude the infrastructure financing book, which is anyway in run-down mode, the Gross NPA and Net NPA would be 1.84% and 0.46% at the overall bank level,” the MD said.
The bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.82% during Q4, of which common equity tier-I ratio stood at 14.20%. Board of IDFC First Bank on Saturday approved raising up to Rs 5,000 crore in one or more tranches in debt. As per its guidance, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio will remain higher than 13% during FY24-FY25.