Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Saturday reported a 28 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 4,253 crore in the second quarter ended September on the back of a decline in bad loans and a rise in interest income.

The state-owned lender had posted a net profit of Rs 3,313 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Total income rose to Rs 32,033 crore in the second quarter of 2023-24 compared with Rs 23,080 crore a year ago, BoB said in a regulatory filing.

The interest income during the quarter increased to Rs 27,862 crore compared with Rs 21,254 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Net interest income (NII) grew by 6.5 per cent to Rs 10,831 crore in Q2FY24.

Operating profit of the bank stood at Rs 8,020 crore, up 33 per cent compared with the same quarter a year ago.

The lender improved its asset quality, with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) coming down to 3.32 per cent of the gross advances by
the end of September from
5.31 per cent in the year-ago period. Net NPAs fell to 0.76 per cent from 1.16 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.

Digital head exits

The bank on Saturday said there was very insignificant and immaterial financial implication of ‘bob World’ on the bank.

The bank has terminated the services of Akhil Handa, head digital lending business, as part of actions initiated following regulatory steps taken by the RBI, BoB managing director Debadatta Chand said.

On October 10, the RBI had directed BoB to halt onboarding fresh customers on its mobile application ‘bob World’ with immediate effect.