Karur Vysya Bank Q1 profit flat at Rs 148 crore

CHENNAI: Private lender Karur Vysya Bank on Friday reported first-quarter profit up marginally by 1.1% to Rs 147.97 crore from Rs 146.35 crore.
Total income grew 4.7% to Rs 1,620.38 crore from Rs 1,547.31 crore. Income from interest earned, however, slightly dipped to Rs 1,348.08 crore from Rs 1,385.03 crore in the first quarter of last year.
Total expenses declined 2.5% to Rs 1,170.97 crore from Rs 1,201.10 crore.Declining asset quality led to Karur Vysya Bank setting aside more money to cover its bad loans. Provisions against loan losses nearly doubled to Rs 233.44 crore from Rs 130.11 crore in the year-ago.
Gross non-performing assets as a percentage of advances worsened to 4.27% from 1.79%. Net NPAs increased to 2.85% from 0.79%.
The bank's operating profit grew about 30% to Rs 449.41 crore, while net interest income improved by 11.94% to Rs 538.57 crore. Growth in net interest income was driven mainly by significant improvement in net interest margin, which increased by 24 bps to 3.76%.
The bank's capital to risk weighted assets ratio (Basel III) stood at 11.71%. Total business of the bank grew 7.7% year over year and crossed Rs 97,000 crore as on July 30, 2017.