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RBL Bank Says On Track To Achieve Up To 35% Growth Rate By March 2020

To tackle the agriculture stress, the bank has brought down the proportion of agriculture in its total business.

Indian two thousand rupee banknotes are arranged for a photograph in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Indian two thousand rupee banknotes are arranged for a photograph in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

Kolhapur-based RBL Bank Ltd. is on track to achieve a compounded annual growth rate of up to 35 percent in its advances by March 2020, MD and CEO Vishwavir Ahuja said.

The private lender had highlighted five goals in an exchange filing dated October 2016, to be achieved by March 2020.

  • Growth in advances: 30 to 35 percent CAGR
  • CASA Ratio: An annual increase of 0.75 to 1 percent
  • Other income: To be around one-third of net total income
  • Cost to income ratio of 51 to 52 percent
  • Return on assets of around 1.5 percent
We are tracking very well to these metrics and we are at the half-way stage right now.
Vishwavir Ahuja, MD and CEO, RBL Bank

RBL does not expect further stress on its agriculture portfolio, Ahuja told BloombergQuint, adding the lender has brought down the proportion of agriculture in its total business to 5 percent from 7 percent earlier. "This will help us tackle the agri-related stress on our books."

He said the bank has no inorganic growth plans as of now and they are focusing on a “prudent and sensible” strategy rather than trying to increase their market share.

The bank clocked a net profit growth of 37 percent to Rs 178 crore, above the Bloomberg estimates of Rs 169 crore.

Other Earnings Highlights:

  • Net interest income up 42 percent at Rs 500 crore versus Rs 352 crore.
  • Net interest margins at 3.98 percent versus 3.52 percent (year-on-year) and 3.89 percent (quarter-on-quarter).
  • Provisions at Rs 113 crore versus Rs 82.3 crore QoQ.
  • Gross NPA At 1.40 percent versus 1.56 percent QoQ.
  • Net NPA at 0.78 percent versus 0.97 percent QoQ.

Shares of the bank fell as much as 2.2 percent in intraday trading today to Rs 525.9 on the NSE.

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