Oriental Bank Of Commerce’s Loss Widens To Rs 1,650 Crore In March Quarter

Public sector lender Oriental Bank of Commerce’s net loss widened to Rs 1,650.22 crore for the quarter ended March of 2017-18.

The bank had made a net loss of Rs 1,218.01 crore during the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal ended March 2017. Total income of the bank during January-March quarter of 2017-18 came down to Rs 4,689.12 crore as against Rs 5,093.84 crore, OBC said in a BSE filing.

Asset quality of the bank worsened with net non-performing assets rising to 10.48 percent of the net advances as on March 31, 2018 against 8.96 percent reported a year ago. Gross NPAs, or bad loans as a percentage of gross advances, stood at 17.63 percent at the end of March 2018, up from 13.73 percent a year ago.

Bank's provisioning for bad loans stood at Rs 2,419.47 crore in the quarter under review against Rs 3,050.60 crore a year ago.

The divergence in the gross NPAs for 2016-17 stood at Rs 967.90 crore. As per a Reserve Bank of India directive in April 2017, banks have been advised to make disclosure in a prescribed format of the divergence in the asset classification and provisioning.

Without naming anyone, Oriental Bank of Commerce said, in respect of two gems and jewellery borrower group, where fraud was declared by some banks, the bank has fully provided for the entire funded exposure.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems are wanted in connection with the alleged over Rs 13,000-crore fraud at Punjab National Bank. Other banks too have declared direct/indirect exposure to Nirav Modi and Gitanjali Gems. Their role in the alleged fraud is being investigated by multiple agencies.

For the full financial year, the bank reported a net loss of Rs 5,871.74 crore. It had registered a net loss of Rs 1,094.07 crore in the preceding 2016-17 fiscal.

Total income in the entire 2017-18 fiscal stood at Rs 20,181.25 crore, lower from Rs 21,187.85 crore a year ago.