Bank of India Q4 profit rises 7% to ₹1,439 crore on higher net interest income

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Bank of India (BoI) reported a 7 per cent year-on-year (yoy) increase in fourth quarter standalone net profit at ₹1,439 crore, supported by growth in net interest income (NII) and decline in total provisions, including tax.

The public sector bank had reported a net profit of ₹1,350 crore in the year ago quarter.

Its board of directors recommended a dividend of ₹ 2.80 per equity share (face value Rs.10 each fully paid up) for FY24.

The board also approved capital raising up to ₹5,000 crore by issue of Basel III compliant Additional Tier 1 and Tier 2 bonds of ₹2,500 crore each.

In FY25, the bank expects to grow advances by 13-14 per cent (against 13.52 per cent in FY24) and deposits by 12-13 per cent (10.21 per cent), said Rajneesh Karnatak, MD & CEO.

The BoI chief underscored that the bank has a robust loan sanctions pipeline of about ₹50,000 crore.

He observed that the bank has a sanctions pipeline of ₹4-lakh crore, with private sector entities accounting for 75 per cent of these sanctions and public sector accounting for the rest. Surplus holding of statutory liquidity ratio securities stood at ₹3.5-lakh crore.

NII rises

Net interest income/NII (difference between interest earned and interest expended) was up 7 per cent yoy at ₹5,937 crore (₹5,523 crore in Q4FY23).

Total non-interest income, comprising fee income (loan processing charges, miscellaneous fee income, etc), forex income, profit or loss on sale/revaluation of investments, etc, declined 43 per cent to ₹1,751 crore (₹3,099 crore).

Net interest margin (whole bank) declined to 2.92 per cent in the reporting quarter from 3.15 per cent a year ago.

While loan loss provisions shot up 274 per cent to ₹2,043 crore, the bank received write-back from standard assets provisions (₹139 crore) as well as from non-performing investment provisions (₹78 crore). Tax burden was 63 per cent lower at ₹292 crore.

Asset quality improved, with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declining to 4.98 per cent of gross advances as at March-end 2024 against 5.35 per cent as at December-end 2023. NNPAs nudged lower to 1.22 per cent of net advances from 1.41 per cent.

As on March-end 2024, gross advances increased by 13.52 per cent yoy to ₹5,85,595 crore. Total deposits rose 10.21 per cent to ₹7,37,920 crore.