To assist Reliance Capital Administrator, RBI forms three-member Advisory Committee

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a three-member Advisory Committee to assist the Administrator of Reliance Capital.

The members of the Advisory Committee include Sanjeev Nautiyal, former Deputy Managing Director, State Bank of India, Srinivasan Varadarajan, former Deputy Managing Director, Axis Bank and Praveen P Kadle, former Managing Director and CEO, Tata Capital.

“…the Reserve Bank has constituted a three-member Advisory Committee to assist the Administrator in discharge of his duties,” the RBI said on Tuesday.

“It may also be mentioned that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Insolvency and Liquidation Proceedings of Financial Service Providers and Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2019 provide for the concerned financial sector regulator appointing a Committee of Advisors to advise the Administrator in the operations of the financial service provider during the corporate insolvency resolution process,” it further said.

The RBI had on November 29 superseded the board of directors of Reliance Capital and appointed Nageswara Rao Y, ex-Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra, as the Administrator of the company.

The action was taken by the central bank after numerous defaults by Reliance Capital in repayment of its debt obligations.

Shares of Reliance Capital were locked at the five per cent lower circuit and closed at ₹18.10 apiece on BSE.

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Bank of Maharashtra eyes a total business size of ₹5-lakh crore by the end of FY24

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Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) is planning to have a presence in most of the 727 districts in the country as part of its strategy to achieve a total business size (deposits plus advances) of ₹5-lakh crore by March-end 2024 against about ₹2.97-lakh crore at September-end 2021.

In an interaction with BusinessLine, MD & CEO, AS Rajeev, underscored that his bank has put in place systems and processes to ensure that the quality of sanctions improve, slippages are reined in, and costs associated with the outsourcing of ATMs and IT, rent, and electricity, among others, are cut.

Rajeev — who has been at the helm of the Pune-headquartered public sector bank (PSB) for close to three years — said his team is striving to ensure that BoM will be among the top three banks in the country in terms of efficiency parameters by March-end 2022. Excerpts:

How would you characterise BoM?

Though we are a public sector bank (PSB), we have private sector bank (PvSB) characteristics. When it comes to financial parameters such as net interest margin (NIM/3.27 per cent), return on asset (RoA/0.53 per cent), current account saving account (CASA) deposits (54 per cent of total deposits), we are as competitive as PvSBs. Our overall loan growth rate (about 11 per cent year-on-year) matches that of PvSBs.

We are competing with PvSBs on all the parameters except asset quality.

If we bring down Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPAs) and Net Non-Performing Assets (NNPAs), we will be among the top three banks in the system, including PSBs and PvSBs. We are likely to improve our NNPA and GNPA position to 1 per cent (from 1.73 per cent as of September-end 2021) and 4 per cent (5.56 per cent), respectively, by March-end 2022.

Also see: Bank of Maharashtra launches digital lending platform for retail loans

We aim to be among the top three banks in terms of efficiency parameters, including NIM, net interest income (NII) growth, cost to income (C-I) ratio, credit growth, CASA ratio, GNPA and NNPA, by March 2022.

We are expecting 14-15 per cent credit growth in FY22. Next year also, we are expecting the same level of growth.

Given that the government wants to have four to five SBI-sized banks in the public sector, how does BoM figure in the scheme of things?

We are also trying to become big. Our aim is to grow our balance sheet to ₹5-lakh crore by 2024. In the last one-and-a-half years, we have opened 200 branches. Of this, 150-160 branches were in States outside Maharashtra. Our pan-India branch network has expanded to 2,000 after the recent opening of the Tirumala branch. Before the end of the current financial year, 100 branches will be opened. The board has decided that we should have at least one branch in each district. Now, we are growing organically. But in the next phase we may see inorganic growth if the requirement comes. Once our financial position improves further, we will try for that.

What changes have you brought about in the working of the bank in the last three years?

We have made structural and policy changes. As far as structural changes go, the main changes we made is in the credit administration area.

For example, we have set up retail loan processing cells and centralised sanctions to ensure quality. Further, we have engaged external agencies to conduct due diligence on loan proposals. A due diligence certificate has to be in place for every loan. This minimises the possibility of frauds.

So, sourcing, processing, and sanctioning of loans is compartmentalised. A proposal can get rejected at any point of time. So, the quality of sanctions has improved. This has helped check slippages.

Also see: BoM reduces repo-linked lending rate by 10 basis points to 6.80%

We have revisited pricing in the case of all advances – fund-based as well as non-fund based. Earlier, there were certain issues relating to lower pricing of Bank Guarantees (BGs) and non-fund based exposure. Risk-adjusted pricing was not there.

For example, if we are giving BGs, the bank should be earning 2 per cent commission as per risk-adjusted pricing. But the pricing went down to 20-25 basis points because of competition. So, now we have made it risk-adjusted pricing, irrespective of the borrower. So, interest income has improved in the case of advances and other income in the case of non-fund based exposure.

Sanctions position, as per delgated powers, and turnaround time are being monitored closely. The figures will speak for themselves. For example, branches earlier used to average ₹2 crore to ₹3 crore sanctions a year. Now, this has gone up three to four times in the past two to three years.

Three years back, the operating profit per quarter was ₹250 crore to ₹300 crore. Now, this has increased almost four times to ₹1,200 crore per quarter.

What cost saving measures have you put in place?

We have revisited all the cost centres such as rent and electricity. For example, the rent we are paying now is much less compared to what we were paying three years back. Earlier, some of the branches were spread over 5,000 to 6,000 sq.ft. Now, the area of the branches has been brought down to ₹1,300-1,500 per sq.ft.

Earlier, a number of operational areas were on outsourced mode. We have changed the ATM installation model from operating expenditure/opex (whereby a managed service provider deploys and operates ATMs for the bank) to capital expenditure/capex (the Bank installs its own ATMs).

Also see: BoM opens 2,000th branch at Tirumala

The cost of an ATM is only ₹3.50 lakh. So, if the useful life of the ATM is seven years, the capital cost is only ₹50,000 per year. The branch staff loads cash in onsite ATMs. For example, if 500 transactions happen a day at an ATM, we have to pay about ₹6,000 to the service provider. So, the outgo on this account was almost ₹2 lakh per month. Now, we have capital cost of only about ₹5,000 per month and there are no other costs because staff is loading the cash. So, the cost on this account has come down drastically from ₹2 lakh per month to ₹5,000.

By going in for e-surveillance at ATMs, the cost of security has declined to ₹4,000 per ATM per month against ₹1 lakh (about ₹30,000 per security guard for three shifts) earlier for physical security.

We used to outsource some of the functions within IT. The cost of outsourced employees is three times more than our own employees. So, we have recruited almost 250-300 IT experts in the last two years, substituted the outsourced people and, because of this, there has been an improvement in quality and reduction on costs.

Earlier (three years back), ₹250 crore to ₹300 crore was the operating profit per quarter. Now, that has increased almost four times to ₹1,200 crore per quarter.

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BoM opens 2,000th branch at Tirumala

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Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) on Thursday opened its 2,000th branch at the temple town of Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh.

Hemant Tamta, Executive Director, BoM, said the milestone branch at the hill town will extend new-age banking convenience to a diverse customer base.

BoM’s branch in Tirumala, where the shrine of Sri Venkateswara Swamy is located, was inaugurated by AV Dharma Reddy, Additional Executive Officer, Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams (TTD).

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Bank of Maharashtra tops PSU lenders chart in terms of loan, saving deposit growth in Q2, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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State-owned Bank of Maharashtra(BoM) has emerged as the top performer among public sector lenders in terms of loan and savings deposit growth during the second quarter of the current financial year, as per quarterly results data.

The Pune-headquartered lender recorded an 11.46 per cent increase in gross advances at Rs 1,15,236 crore in the July-September period of 2021-22, according to the published data of BoM.

It was followed by Punjab & Sind Bank which posted 9.53 per cent growth in advances with aggregate loans at Rs 67,574 crore at the end of September 2021, as per data from the bank’s quarterly results.

In terms of RAM (retail, agriculture and MSME) segment, the bank registered a highest growth rate of 14.24 per cent at Rs 70,515 crore.

When it came to deposit mobilisation, BoM with a 14.47 per cent growth was a notch behind Punjab and Sind Bank, while the country’s largest lender SBI recorded an 9.69 per cent rise.

However, in absolute terms, SBI’s deposit base was 20 times higher at Rs 36.90 lakh crore as against Rs 1.81 lakh crore of BoM.

Current account, savings account (CASA) for BoM saw a 22 per cent rise, the highest among the public sector lenders, during the quarter.

As a result, CASA was 54 per cent or Rs 97,889 crore of the total liability of the bank.

Total business of BoM increased 13.27 per cent to Rs 2.97 lakh crore at the end of September 2021.

For the second quarter, BoM’s standalone net profit more than doubled to Rs 264 crore as against Rs 130 crore in the same period a year ago.

During the quarter, the bank had written off bad loans worth Rs 1,100 crore including Rs 550 crore exposur to two SREI finance companies after making full provisions. RBI has taken SREI Infrastructure Finance and Equipment leasing company to bankruptcy court for resolution.

The bank’s asset quality improved significantly as the gross bad loans or gross non-performing assets (NPAs) dipped to 5.56 per cent of gross advances by the end of September 2021 as against 8.81 per cent by the end of the second quarter of the previous fiscal.

Net NPAs nearly halved to 1.73 per cent from 3.30 per cent at the end of second quarter of the last financial year, while provision coverage ratio improved to 92.38 per cent as against 87.15 per cent.



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Bank of Maha sees 15% credit growth, may not need capital infusion from govt, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Bank of Maharashtra may not need capital infusion from the government this fiscal as it has adequate funds to meet the expected credit growth of 14-15 per cent, but may raise growth capital in the next quarter.

“Our capital adequacy ratio is 14.68%. As of now we don’t require any capital from the government. Capital is also a cost, the only thing is – when to raise the capital,” Bank of Maharashtra CEO A S Rajeev told ETBFSI in an interview.

The bank has raised Rs 400 crore towards equity in the current fiscal and Rs 1,000 crore as Tier-II capital two weeks back. If the Tier II capital is considered the adequacy ratio would rise to 15.50. The bank expects Rs 1,000 crore minimum profit in the current year, which would be added to the capital. It has also provided Rs 1,000 crore for Covid, which would be added to the capital if the provisioning is not required.

Credit growth

The bank sees credit growth in the infrastructure sector and segments such as hotels that are opening up with the easing of the pandemic. The MSME segment that was witnessing restructuring is also growing.

“The retail growth is on an average 15% in all banks. In our case, it is 17-18%. MSME is around 20% in spite of all these issues. So definitely it will be above 20% in this half year,” Rajeev said.

Home loans are growing 20% growth while auto 28%. The lender expects that the chip shortage will be sorted out in the second half of this fiscal.

Bank of Maha sees 15% credit growth, may not need capital infusion from govt

Outreach programme

The bank’s outreach programme is yielding 300-350 accounts with one credit outreach programme with loans of Rs 200-250 crore, he said, adding a recent SLBC in Pune it fetched loans of Rs 348 crore for the banks involved. The bank’s core business is improving with net interest margin at 3.27%. “If you’re able to maintain a NIM of 3% and you continue with 17% core profitability. And earlier NIM was affected by huge provisioning, now risk adjusted NIM is improving because the provisioning component has come down,” Rajeev said.

FinTech collaboration

The bank is investing a huge amount for FinTech and digital, and have tied with a number of companies, especially in the analytics space. The lender has tied up with around 15 companies for joint lending, including start-ups and NBFCs. The bank is also looking at buying stakes in FinTech firms and at leasing model.

Transfer to NARCL

The lender has identified around Rs 1,800 crore of loans for transfer to the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd and plans to shift Rs 3,500-4,000 crore fraud reported assets to the bad bank.



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A lookback on bank chiefs behind the bars, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The arrest of Pratip Chaudhary, former chairman of State Bank of India, has shocked the industry, since there was no notice or formal summons in the 14-year-old loan case of a hotel project in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

Rajnish Kumar, Chaudhary’s predecessor, had told the ET that the arrest was a “case of high handedness”. As of now, Chaudhary has been admitted to Jawahar Hospital, Jaipur, due to restlessness, and his bail plea had been rejected.

Over the years, many top bank officials have been arrested, some of which have been proven to be guilty. Here’s a lookback:

1.Sushil Muhnot and Ravindra Marathe, Bank of Maharashtra


Sushil Muhnot, former chairman of Bank of Maharashtra, along with six persons, including Ravindra Marathe, who was the managing director and chief executive officer of the bank at the time, had been arrested in 2018 for allegedly misusing powers while extending loans to the fraud-accused DS Kulkarni group in violation of norms. Muhnot, in 2016, was abruptly removed as the chairman as he allegedly occupied two houses.

2. Rana Kapoor, YES Bank

Rana Kapoor, founder of YES Bank and former CEO, was arrested last year in March over allegations of money laundering to the tune of Rs 4,300 crore. In the latest development, Kapoor has moved Bombay High Court challenging a special court’s order from August that had remanded him to police custody for a week.

3. Waryam Singh and Joy Thomas, PMC Bank

Former SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhary arrest: A lookback on bank chiefs behind the bars
Waryam Singh, former chairman of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank, was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police last year, in connection with the alleged bank scam to the tune of Rs 4,355 crore. Joy Thomas, former managing director, was also held for his connection to the bank scam.

4. Sudhir Kumar Jain, Syndicate Bank

Former SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhary arrest: A lookback on bank chiefs behind the bars
Sudhir Kumar Jain, former chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank, was arrested in 2014 for an alleged bribery case of Rs 50 lakh. In 2018, Jain was dismissed from service.

5. Yogesh Aggarwal, IDBI Bank

Former SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhary arrest: A lookback on bank chiefs behind the bars


Yogesh Aggarwal, former chairman and managing director of IDBI Bank, had been arrested in 2017 for having shown “undue favours” to the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, owned by Vijay Mallya.



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RBI spells out rules for a bank to exit prompt corrective action framework, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The Reserve Bank of India has modified the prompt corrective action plans for weaker banks with it laying down criteria for a bank to exit the framework once its financial metrics improve. It has also removed the profitability parameter for invoking the regulatory action.

The revised framework will be effective from January next year. The existing one has been in vogue since April 1, 2017. Under the existing rules, as many as 12 banks were placed under restrictions after they crossed the tolerance threshold. Barring one, all banks have exited the framework over the last two years but no uniform policy was applied for their exit. For example, RBI removed PCA from Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra in January 2019 after their net non-performing assets ratio fell below the risk threshold of 6%.

But they were not profitable when the restrictions were lifted. In contrast, the erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce was profitable but its NPA was higher than 6% at the time PCA was removed from it. With the introduction of the structured exit policy, RBI has tried to address this anomaly. Under the existing framework, RBI invokes PCA if a bank makes net loss for consecutive financial years.

This clause has been removed in the revised guidelines. Once a bank is placed under PCA, taking the bank out of PCA framework and /or withdrawal of restrictions imposed under it will be considered if no breaches in risk thresholds in any of the parameters are observed as per four continuous quarterly financial statements, one of which should be audited annual financial statement, RBI said Tuesday.

However, any exit from the framework would depend on RBI’s supervisory comfort of the RBI and assessment on sustainability of profitability of the bank. The regulator has also tweaked the capital norm and leverage rules. The objective of the PCA framework is to enable supervisory intervention at appropriate time and require the supervised entity to initiate and implement remedial measures in a timely manner, so as to restore its financial health, RBI said.

“The PCA framework is also intended to act as a tool for effective market discipline,” it said. These rules however do not preclude the regulator from taking any other action as it deems fit at any time, in addition to the corrective actions prescribed in the framework, which is applicable to all banks operating in India including foreign banks operating through branches or subsidiaries.

A bank is generally placed under the framework based on the audited annual financial results. However this does not bar RBI from imposing restrictions on any bank during the course of a year in extreme cases.



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Bank of Maharashtra Q2 net profit jumps 103% on higher interest income

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In the retail loan segment, housing loans grew by 20.35%, while vehicle loans were up 27% compared to a year ago. The earlier stressed MSME too was showing clear signs of cash flow and better capacity utilisation, the CEO said. MSME advances grew 20.66% YoY to Rs 22,995 crore for Q2FY22.

Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) on Thursday reported a 102.71% Y-o-Y rise in its net profit to Rs 264 crore for the September quarter. The net interest margin improved to 3.27% on a Y-o-Y basis against 2.3% in the comparable quarter last year. Net interest income increased by 33.84% to Rs 1,500 crore, compared with Rs 1,120 crore during Q2FY21.

The bank’s net NPA was at 1.73%, while gross NPA came in at 5.56%, as against a net NPA ratio of 3.30% and gross NPA ratio of 8.81% last year. The bank’s provisional coverage ratio improved to 92.38%. It held cumulative Covid-19 provision of Rs 973 crore as on September 30, 2021.

AS Rajeev, CEO, said this was the highest net interest margin reported by the bank in the last five years. Apart from the rise in the net interest margin and net interest income, profits got a boost with Rs 258-crore recovery from the DHFL account and Rs 80 crore from another small account, taking the total recovery to Rs 340 crore. BoM had an exposure of Rs 553 crore to Srei Group which was written off and fully provided for, he said.

Rajeev expects the bank to see a credit growth of around 14-16% for the full year as the economy is opening up. The bank’s strategy of reducing the share of corporate loans and expanding the retail, agriculture and MSME (RAM) segment has paid dividends, with RAM advances growing by 14.4% YoY to Rs 30,4800 crore, he said.

In the retail loan segment, housing loans grew by 20.35%, while vehicle loans were up 27% compared to a year ago. The earlier stressed MSME too was showing clear signs of cash flow and better capacity utilisation, the CEO said. MSME advances grew 20.66% YoY to Rs 22,995 crore for Q2FY22.

The bank plans to raise funds to meet its growth requirements. It raised equity capital of Rs 403.70 crore in the second quarter. It has plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore through tier II bonds.

Total business grew by 13.27% to Rs 296,808 crore. Deposits rose 14.47% to Rs 181,572 crore while gross advances increased 11.44% to Rs 115,235 crore.

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Bank of Maharashtra reports 103% jump in Q2 net

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Bank of Maharashtra reported a 103 per cent year-on-year (yoy) jump in second quarter net profit at ₹264 crore against ₹130 crore in the year-ago quarter on the back of robust growth in net interest income and non-interest income.

The Pune-headquartered public sector bank’s bottomline improved despite an increase in its operating expenses and rise in loan loss provisions.

Net interest income (difference between interest earned and interest expended) rose 34 per cent y-o-y in the reporting quarter to ₹1,500 crore (₹1,120 crore in the year-ago quarter).

Non-interest income, comprising fee-based income, treasury income and miscellaneous income, was up 23 per cent y-o-y at ₹493 crore (₹402 crore).

MD & CEO AS Rajeev said the net interest margin (net interest income/average interest earning assets) at 3.27 per cent in the reporting quarter (against 3.05 per cent in the first quarter) is the highest in the last four-five years.

Operating expenses were up about 22 per cent y-o-y at ₹932 crore (₹766 crore). This includes additional liability of ₹217.70 crore due to enhancement in family pension.

Loan loss provisions jumped to ₹583 crore, including towards increase in provisions on account of implementation of resolution plans under RBI’s “Resolution Framework for Covid-19 related stress” against a write-back of ₹4.55 crore in the year-ago quarter.

NPAs decline

Gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) declined by ₹618 crore (net) during the quarter to ₹6,403 crore.

Of the total ₹1,236 crore reduction in GNPAs during the quarter, ₹645 crore was on account of recovery and upgradation. Recovery in written-off accounts includes ₹258 crore from DHFL.

Gross addition in NPAs stood at ₹618 crore, including ₹553 crore on account of fresh slippages.

GNPAs declined to 5.56 per cent of gross advances as at September-end 2021 against 6.35 per cent as at June-end 2021.

Net NPAs position also improved to 1.73 per cent of net advances against 2.22 per cent.

The bank has ₹550 crore exposure to SREI group, and has made full provision towards this exposure. The Kolkata Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has admitted the RBI’s petitions for insolvency resolution process against Srei Infrastructure Finance (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance (SEFL).

Total deposits increased by 14.47 per cent y-o-y to ₹1,81,572 crore. Gross advances rose by 11.44 per cent y-o-y to ₹1,15,235 crore.

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Bank of Maharashtra net profit jumps 103 % to Rs 264 cr in Sept quarter, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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(Eds: Adding details) Mumbai, State-owned Bank of Maharashtra on Thursday reported a 103 per cent jump in its standalone net profit to Rs 264 crore in the September 2021 quarter, helped by healthy growth in net interest income.

The lender had reported a standalone profit after tax of Rs 130 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

The bank’s performance in the July-September 2021 period was good despite the pandemic, the bank’s Managing Director and CEO A S Rajeev said.

“One major reason for higher profit is growth of 34 per cent in NII (net interest income). Our core performance has improved,” he told reporters.

The bank’s recovery from written-off accounts stood at Rs 340 crore, including Rs 258 from the DHFL resolution, in the quarter, and this also resulted in higher profit.

During the April-September period of this fiscal, the bank reported a 104.11 per cent jump in the net profit at Rs 472 crore as against Rs 231 crore for HYFY21.

In Q2 FY2022, NII grew 33.84 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 1,500 crore as against Rs 1,120 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Non-interest income rose 22.61 per cent to Rs 493 crore.

Net interest margin (NIM) improved to 3.27 per cent as on September 30, 2021.

Gross non-performing accounts (NPA) declined to 5.56 per cent from 8.81 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Net NPA also reduced to 1.73 per cent as against 3.30 per cent.

Provision coverage ratio improved to 92.38 per cent as against 87.15 per cent. It holds a cumulative COVID-19 provision of Rs 973 crore as of September-end.

Banks‘ recovery and up-gradation stood at Rs 645 crore from Rs 556 crore in the year-ago period.

Fresh slippages in the quarter were Rs 553 crore.

The lender said Srei Infrastructure, where it has an exposure of Rs 550 crore, was identified as an NPA in the quarter and the account is fully provided for.

Total basel-III capital adequacy ratio improved to 14.67 per cent with common equity tier-1 ratio of 11.38 per cent for Q2 FY22.

Gross advances increased 11.44 per cent to Rs 115,235 crore and total deposits were up by 14.47 per cent to Rs 181,572 crore.

Rajeev said the bank expects 14-15 per cent credit growth during the current fiscal.

The bank’s scrip was trading at Rs 21.90 apiece, up 4.53 per cent on the BSE. PTI HV HRS hrs



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