Allahabad Bank net profit up 8% in Q2

Kolkata, Nov 10: State-run Allahabad Bank on Friday reported close to 8 per cent growth in its net profit to Rs 70.20 crore for the quarter ended September 30, as compared to Rs 65.03 crore for the year-ago period.

The bank said that in order to boost its capital adequacy, the lender may raise around Rs 1,000 crore through QIP issue within the current fiscal. The growth in bank's net profit for the second quarter of the current fiscal was aided by a healthy growth in operating profit along with fall in the bank cost of deposits.

Operating profit for the lender surged by 26.03 per cent to Rs 1,223 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 970 crore in the year-ago period.

Its cost of deposit reduced to 5.46 per cent in the quarter under review as against 6.02 per cent in the same quarter last year. The bank's asset quality, however, deteriorated as the amount of gross non-performing asset rose to Rs 21,454.27 crore during the period under review from Rs 19,094.53 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, according to a regulatory filing.

"We are focusing on recovery of bad loans. During the quarter, fresh slippage to NPA category was around Rs 2,000 crore," the lender's Managing Director and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian told reporters here.

According to another bank official, apart from the Reserve Bank of India's mentioned accounts, the lender itself has identified 20 accounts for referring to the National Company Law Tribunal for corporate insolvency resolution.

In these 20 accounts, it has a total exposure of around Rs 908 crore, he added.