Axis Bank on Tuesday reported a 4.91 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 6,491.66 crore, dragged down by higher operating expenses. On a standalone basis, the third largest private sector lender’s net profit grew less than 4 per cent at Rs 6,071 crore.

Core net interest income grew 9 per cent to Rs 18,087 crore, while non-interest income was up 22 per cent to Rs 5,555 crore.

Total assets grew 14 per cent, while the net interest margin narrowed to 4.01 per cent from 4.26 per cent in the year-ago period, and 4.11 per cent in the preceding quarter.

On Saturday, rival ICICI Bank had announced a 23.6 per cent rise in profits in the December quarter, following a decent performance on its core income front even as provisions declined.

The private sector lender reported a standalone net profit of Rs 10,271.54 crore against Rs 8,311.85 crore a year ago. Analysts had expected ICICI Bank to report a net profit in the region of Rs 9,800 crore.

Axis Bank’s chief financial officer Puneet Sharma said the bank hopes to maintain the cushion it has generated on the net interest margin (NIM) front, where they expect the number to be above 3.8 per cent from a structural perspective.

The overall operating expenses grew 32 per cent to Rs 8,946 crore during the quarter, driven largely by non-staff spends, and the bank management said these are investments being done for the future.

The bank’s credit-to-deposit ratio went up to a high 92 per cent during the quarter, despite an overall deposit growth of 18 per cent.

PTI