Syndicate Bank Q1 Profit Up 7% at Rs 485 Crore

State-owned Syndicate Bank today reported 7 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 485 crore for the first quarter ended June 2014.

The bank had a net profit of Rs 452 crore during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Total income of the bank rose to Rs 5,523.08 crore as against Rs 4,726.18 crore in the same quarter a year ago, Syndicate Bank chairman and managing director Sudhir Kumar Jain said here.

New interest income increased by just 1 per cent to Rs 1,351 crore against Rs 1,338 crore in the first quarter of the previous fiscal.

The gross non-performance assets (NPA) as a proportion of advances went up to 2.97 per cent against 2.38 per cent at the end of June last year. Net NPA also rose to 1.88 per cent from 1.19 per cent.

In absolute terms, the gross NPA rose by 47.5 per cent to Rs 5,243.38 crore while net NPA increased by 86 per cent to Rs 3,271.49 crore at the end of June 2014 on year-on-year basis.

"The NPA picture should improve by the end of the current fiscal," he said.

Net interest margin declined marginally to 2.47 per cent from 2.83 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.

Total business of the bank, as on June 30, stood at Rs 3,91,305 crore, as against Rs 3,31,896 crore at end of first quarter of in 2013-14, registering 18 per cent growth.

Asked about capital raising plan he said the bank has got adequate capital adequacy ratio to support lending or credit expansion.

However to meet Basel III requirements, the bank has applied to the government to raise capital of Rs 1,100 crore by qualified institutional placement route.

"We have requested the government for approval for QIP. We are waiting for nod from the government," he said.

Capital adequacy of the bank at the end of June 2014, as per Basel-III norms, was 10.80 per cent.

Shares of PNB closed at Rs 924 per unit, down 0.51 per cent on the BSE.