Bank of Baroda has posted a 21.6 per cent dip in
December quarter profit at Rs 1,011.62 crore , dented by a surge in bad assets. The bank had posted a post tax net of Rs 1,289.85 crore in the corresponding October-December period.
The Gross NPA ratio of the bank rose to 2.41 per cent, against 1.48 per cent in December 2011.
Attributing the surge in non-performing assets to economic stress, newly appointed chairman and managing director of the bank S S Mundhra said the increase in bad assets came from the wholesale banking, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
To a specific question if the
change in leadership has resulted in a cleaning of the book and hence the uptick in NPAs, Mundhra pointed out that he took charge as late as January 22 and added that the "composition of the book" was a prime reason.
The bank added Rs 1,567 crore to restructured assets portfolio during the quarter.
Mundhra said the situation on
both the restructuring and NPAs is unlikely to improve in the next two or three quarters.
The bank's provisions towards taxation got reduced by 56.8 per cent to Rs 202.61 crore from the year ago's Rs 468.60 crore, helping protecting the bottomlines. Mundhra did not comment when asked if some shocks await the bank in the next quarter on this front.
Reacting to the results, shares of Bank of Baroda closed 7.5 per cent down at Rs 802.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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