Axis Bank Q1 net profit drops 21% at Rs 1,556 cr as bad loans remain high

Mumbai: Private player Axis Bank Friday reported 21 percent decline in net profit at Rs 1,555.5 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal on account of rise in bad loans. [caption id=“attachment_2025277” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] It had earned a net profit of Rs 1,978.44 crore in the April-June quarter of the last fiscal, Axis Bank said in a statement. Decline in profit is “driven by slippages from the watch list, the bank’s Gross NPA and Net NPA levels rose to 2.54 percent and 1.08 percent respectively in the first quarter”, it said. The bank’s Gross NPA in absolute term rose to Rs 9,553 crore as compared to Rs 4,251 crore at the end of June 2015. Total income of the bank improved to Rs 13,852.1 crore as against Rs 12,234.41 crore in the same period last year. During the quarter, the interest income rose to Rs 11,113.9 crore from Rs 9,936.14 crore in the same period a year ago. Operating profit of Axis Bank grew 9 percent to Rs 4,469 crore. Its other income (non-interest revenue) increased to Rs 2,738 crore as compared Rs 2,298 crore in the April-June quarter of last fiscal. During the quarter, the bank added Rs 3,638 crore to Gross NPAs, while ‘recoveries and upgrades’ were at Rs 140 crore and write-offs at Rs 32 crore.