Central Bank of India returns to black with ₹310 crore net profit in March quarter; FY22 net at ₹1,045 crore

State-owned Central Bank of India on may 9 reported a standalone net profit of ₹310 crore in quarter ended March 2022, on the back of less provisioning for bad loans.

The lender had posted a net loss of ₹1,349 crore in the same quarter a year-ago.

Total income during Q4 of FY22 rose to ₹6,419.58 crore, from ₹5,729.38 crore in the same period of FY21, Central Bank of India said in a regulatory filing.

For the full fiscal year 2021-22, the bank witnessed a turnaround and recorded a net profit of ₹1,045 crore. It had a net loss of ₹888 crore in 2020-21.

Total income during the year rose to ₹25,770.13 crore, from ₹25,845.90 crore in FY21.

The lender improved on its asset quality and brought down the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) to 14.84% of the gross advances at the end of March 2022, as against 16.55% in the year-ago period.

Net NPAs or bad loans fell to 3.97%, from 5.77%.

Fall in bad loan proportions significantly reduced to ₹1,061 crore for Q4FY22, as against ₹3,080 crore put aside for the year-ago quarter.

For the full year, the provisioning for contingencies reduced to ₹3,480 crore, from ₹5,902 crore.

The bank’s total business increased to ₹5,32,404 crore, from ₹5,06,886 crore registering a growth of 5.03% year-on-year, it said.

Total deposits have increased by ₹12,719 crore and stood at ₹3,42,692 crore as on March 31, 2022, as compared to ₹3,29,973 crore, reflecting an increase of 3.85%, said the lender.

Credit cost for FY22 improved from 2.95% to 1.41%, registering an improvement of 154 basis points (bps) yera-on-year.

Slippage Ratio for the fiscal year 2021-22 stood at 3.20%, compared to 4.40% during the previous fiscal year, registering an improvement of 120 bps, it said.

Further, the bank said that the business per employee for FY22 has increased from ₹15.60 crore, to ₹17.15 crore on an yearly basis, registering a rise of nearly 10%.

Stock of Central Bank of India were trading at ₹18.10 apiece on BSE, down by 1.63% from previous close.