UCO Bank posts Rs 4,321.09 crore loss in FY19; scrip jumps 5%

State-owned lender UCO Bank on Tuesday reported a net loss of Rs 4,321.09 crore for the financial year 2018-19. The bank had posted net loss of Rs 4,436.37 crore during the financial year 2017-18, UCO Bank said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The total income of the bank inched up by 4.64 per cent to Rs 15,844.14 crore in FY19 from Rs 15,141.13 crore in the last fiscal.

Formerly known as United Commercial Bank, the lender's provisions and contingencies increased to Rs 7,065.97 crore in FY19 from Rs 5,761.19 crore in FY18. The provision amount set aside to cover non-performing assets stood at Rs 8,294.92 crore compared with Rs 7,343.38 crore during the previous year.

The Kolkata-headquartered lender's asset quality improved during the year ended March 31, 2019 with a decline in the bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio - bad loans as a percentage of gross advances - which was almost flat at 25 per cent. Net NPA fell to 9.72 per cent as compared to 13.10 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

In value terms, the gross NPAs stood at Rs 29,888.33 crore as on March 31, 2019 as compared to Rs 30,549.92 crore a year-ago. Net NPAs stood at Rs 9,649.92 crore as against Rs 14,082.07 crore in the last fiscal.

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"During the financial year 2018-19, the bank detected 99 fraud cases amounting to Rs 2,461.36 crore. Out of these accounts, the bank has recovered a total amount of Rs 234.24 crore and provision of Rs 2,227.12 crore was made towards fraud during the year," the bank said.

On the quarterly basis, the bank the bank's net loss narrowed to Rs 1,552.02 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 2,134.36 crore in the same quarter last year, helped by lower provisioning for bad loans.

During January-March quarter, the total income increased to Rs 4,148.52 crore versus Rs 3,424.65 crore in the year ago period.

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The bank's provisions and contingencies stood at Rs 2,242.58 crore during the March quarter. As on March 31, 2019, Canara Bank restructured as many as 1,249 MSME account, as per the RBI directive, with amount involving Rs 115.50 crore as a relief to them under Goods and Services Tax.

Following earnings release, UCO Bank shares closed trade at Rs 17.90 apiece, up 4.99 per cent, on the BSE on Tuesday.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar