Bandhan Bank on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 721 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. Net profit in the corresponding quarter was Rs 209 crore and the year-on-year increase can be attributed to the lower provisions made by the bank during the quarter.

Net profit was sequentially flat with the first quarter net profit also at Rs 721 crore.

The bank made a provision of Rs 636 crore during Q2FY24 compared to Rs 1280 crore in Q2FY23.

Net Interest Income during Q2FY24 was Rs 2443 crore compared to Rs 2193 crore during Q2FY23, a growth of 11.4 per cent in line with the market expectations.

The bank’s net interest margin during the quarter was 7.2 per cent, lower from 7.3 per cent during Q1FY24 but higher than 7 per cent during Q2FY23.

“With faster portfolio expansion in Q3 and Q4, NIM usually moves up. Just for the month of September, NIM was at 7.6 per cent reflecting festive demand and showing that our guidance of NIM between 7-7.5 per cent is likely to be achieved,” said Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, MD and CEO, Bandhan Bank.

Gross non-performing assets of the bank however stood at 7.3 per cent during the quarter, up from 7.2 per cent in Q2FY23 and 6.8 per cent in Q1FY24. “We have not done any writeoffs or sale to ARCs during the quarter. This increase is purely the steady state increase,” said Sunil Samdani, the outgoing CFO of Bandhan Bank.

The bank in a regulatory filing on Wednesday said that its board has approved the appointment of Abhijit Ghosh, head - finance and accounts of the bank as interim CFO with effect from Friday till a new CFO is appointed by the board.

“As the festive season sets in, there has already been a notable uptick in credit demand. Of late, we have successfully completed the migration to the new CBS (core banking system) and have initiated several steps to grow the retail assets and liabilities portfolio and also increase productivity per employee supported by our digital and analytical initiatives,” Ghosh said.

He added that the bank is on track to increase the share of secured credit to 50 per cent.

“In line with our medium term strategic objective, the share of secured assets as part of our total loan book continues to increase and reached 44 per cent in Q2FY24, up from 38 per cent one year before. We expect to have nearly 50 per cent of our portfolio secured by FY26,”