Indian Overseas Bank Q4 loss narrows to Rs 1,985 crore on reduction in bad loans and provisioning

New Delhi: Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) Thursday reported narrowing of net loss to Rs 1,985.16 crore for the March quarter of the previous fiscal due to reduction in bad loans and provisioning. The public sector lender reported a loss of Rs 3,606.73 crore during January-March, 2017-18. During December quarter of the last fiscal, the bank’s loss stood at Rs 346.02 crore. “Net loss is only due to additional provision in the existing NPA to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore and one fraud account provision to the extent of Rs 700 crore,” the bank said. Total income during the quarter was down at Rs 5,473.92 crore from Rs 5,814.42 crore in the year-ago period, the bank said in a regulatory filing. For 2018-19, the net loss was down at Rs 3,737.88 crore from Rs 6,299.49 crore during 2017-18. Income was slightly higher at Rs 21,837.58 crore from Rs 21,661.65 crore a year ago. [caption id=“attachment_5972931” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank came down to 21.97 percent (Rs 33,398.12 crore) of the gross advances by end of March 2019 as against 25.58 percent (Rs 38,180.15 crore) at March-end 2018. Net NPAs were 10.81 percent (Rs 14,368.30 crore) as against 15.33 percent (Rs 20,399.66 crore). Thus, provisioning and contingencies for the March quarter 2019 were reduced to Rs 4,501.92 crore from Rs 6,774.55 crore a year ago. The bank’s board at its meeting held today has considered and approved a capital plan for 2019-20 for issue of equity shares to a maximum extent of 300 crore shares with appropriate premium to public, it said. The money is intended to be raised by way of follow on public offer, rights issue with or without participation from government issue of equity shares to Qualified Institutional Buyers, among others, it added. The bank also plans to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore by issuance of BASEL III-compliant Tier II bonds in one or more tranches on private placement basis to retail segment by way of public issue either domestically or overseas, it said. The Chennai-based lender said recovery in NPA accounts for 2018-19 is Rs 14,669 crore as compared to Rs 15,496 crore a year ago. There were fresh slippages of Rs 6,071 crore. The stock of the bank closed 0.68 percent up at Rs 13.24 on BSE.