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Bank Of Baroda Reports Rs 1,047 Crore Loss In Q4

Bank of Baroda reported net loss in Q4 owing to higher tax expenses

Pedestrians pass a Bank of Baroda branch. (Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)
Pedestrians pass a Bank of Baroda branch. (Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)

Bank of Baroda on Saturday reported a net loss of Rs 1,047 crore for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a net profit of Rs 507 crore a year ago. The loss was mainly on account of higher tax expenses during the quarter.

In the Jan-Mar quarter, the bank’s tax expenses stood at Rs 3,762 crore, as compared with a tax write-back of Rs 2,230 crore a year ago. The public sector lender’s net interest income for the quarter rose 4.54% year-on-year to Rs 7,107 crore. Non-interest income rose 71% from a year ago to Rs 4,848 crore.

The bank’s asset quality condition improved, with gross non-performing asset ratio falling to 8.87% on March 31, as compared with 9.63% as of Dec. 31, 2020.Net NPA ratio rose to 3.09%, up 70 basis points quarter-on-quarter.

Bank of Baroda disclosed that it restructured loans worth Rs 3,774 crore under the Reserve Bank of India’s one-time restructuring scheme. This included retail loans worth Rs 1,071 crore and corporate loans worth Rs 2,703 crore.

Fresh slippages during the quarter stood at Rs 11,656 crore, which included Rs 8,637 crore worth of loans that slipped after the Supreme Court vacated an order which barred lenders from downgrading accounts to NPA status.

“Corporate asset quality has held strong in the face of the pandemic. The main concerns are around our MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) portfolio as it is highly vulnerable in the face of the second wave. We may see some retail stress during the current year too,” said Sanjiv Chadha, MD & CEO, Bank of Baroda.

Despite the expected stress, the bank is not expecting a major hit on the balance sheet as it believes it has the tools to deal with it. The Reserve Bank of India announced an extended one-time restructuring scheme for retail and MSME loans, on May 5.

The bank’s total domestic advances rose 4.9% year-on-year to Rs 6.41 lakh crore. Retail loans rose 14.35% from a year ago to Rs 1.2 lakh crore. Total deposits rose 2.22% year-on-year to Rs 9.67 lakh crore. Low-cost current account savings account deposits rose 16.5% from a year ago to Rs 3.68 lakh crore.