Axis Bank Q4 earnings: Axis Bank on Thursday reported a standalone net profit of Rs 7.129.67 crore for the March quarter compared with Rs 6,071.10 crore profit in the December quarter (up 17 per cent QoQ) and Rs 5.728,42 crore loss in the same quarter last year. The private lender said its Net Interest Income (NII) for the quarter grew 11 per cent YoY to Rs 13,089 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter came in at 4.06 per cent, up basis points (bps) QoQ.
Axis Bank other Income Fee income for the quarter rose 23 per cent YoY to Rs 5,637 crore. Retail fees was up 33 per cent YoY and constituted 74 per cent of the bank’s total fee income. "Retail cards and payments fee grew 39 per cent YoY. Retail Assets (excluding cards and payments) fee grew 20 per cent YoY. Fees from Third Party Products grew 59 per cent YoY, the bank said.
The Corporate & Commercial banking fees together grew 2 per cent YoY to Rs 1,478 crore. The trading income gain for the quarter stood at Rs 1,021 crore; miscellaneous income came in at Rs 107 crore.
"Overall, non-interest income (comprising of fee, trading and miscellaneous income) for Q4FY24 grew 41% YOY and 22% QOQ to Rs 6,766 crore," the bank said.
Provisions and contingencies Provision and contingencies for Q4FY24 stood at Rs 1,185 crore. Specific loan loss provisions for Q4FY24 stood at Rs 832 crore. The bank has not utilised Covid provisions during the quarter and these are reclassified to other provisions. The bank eld cumulative provisions of Rs 12,134 crore at the end of Q4FY24.
"On an aggregated basis, our provision coverage ratio (including specific + standard and other provisions) stands at 159 per cent of GNPA as on 31st March 2024. Credit cost for the quarter ended 31st March 2024 stood at 0.32 per cent," it said.
Axis Bank NPAs, slippages
The bank’s reported Gross NPA of 1.43 per cent against 1.58 per cent in the third quarter. Net NPA came in at 0.31 per cent against 0.36 per cent QoQ. Recoveries from written off accounts for the quarter stood at Rs 919 crore.
"Reported net slippages in the quarter adjusted for recoveries from written off pool was Rs 398 crore, of which retail was Rs 1,061 crore, CBG was negative Rs 62 crore and Wholesale was negative Rs 601 crore. Gross slippages during the quarter were Rs 3,471 crore, compared to Rs 3,715 crore in Q3FY24 and Rs 3,375 crore in Q4FY23. Recoveries and upgrades from NPAs during the quarter were Rs 2,155 crore. The bank in the quarter wrote off NPAs aggregating Rs 2,082 crore," it said.
Axis Bank dividend
The bank board recommended a final dividend of Re 1 per equity share, subject to approval of the members of the Bank at the ensuing 30th Annual General Meeting. The dividend, if approved, will be paid within 30 days from the date of conclusion of the AGM.
Rs 55,000 crore fundraising
The Axis Bank board approved raising of funds by issue of debt instruments in Indian/foreign currency including, but not limited to, long term bonds, masala bonds, sustainable/ ESG Bonds (including green bonds), optionally/compulsorily convertible debentures, non-convertible debentures, perpetual debt instruments, AT 1 Bonds, infrastructure Bonds and Tier II Capital Bonds or such other debt securities as may be permitted under the RBI guidelines from time to time, up to an amount of Rs. 35,000 crore.
Besides, Axis Bank said it would raise up to Rs 20,000 crore via issue of equity shares, depository receipts and/or any other instruments or securities representing either equity shares and/or convertible securities linked to equity shares including through qualified institutions placement (QIP)/ American depository receipts (ADRs)/ Global depository receipts (GDRs) program, preferential allotment or such other permissible mode or combinations thereof as may be considered appropriate by the board.
"An equity supply risk could be a near-term overhang for share price performance, especially considering that the stock has already seen significant recent equity supply from recent block deals (Dec’23 and Apr’24)," Nomura India said earlier this week.