Analysts suddenly gung ho on this PSU bank, see up to 50% upside, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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NEW DELHI: Bank of Baroda (BoB) impressed Dalal Street with its June quarter operating performance. A double-digit growth in retail loans and an expansion net interest margin (NIM) in the challenging June quarter were noteworthy. Gross non-performing assets fell marginally, but the impact of the second wave of Covid on its retail and MSME books was visible on slippages and credit cost.

Analysts said the situation was still under control and the management commentary was strong.

They said a rebalancing of the portfolio in favour of retail and a gradual decline in the international book would support NIM for the PSU bank. This, along with a moderation in credit cost will improve the return on asset (RoA) trajectory for the bank, analysts said and suggested up to 50 per cent upside for the stock.

“BOB recently raised capital via QIP, leading to a reasonable CET 1 of 11.3 per cent. With the merger (Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank) and asset quality pain now largely over, we expect BoB’s return on equity (RoE) to gradually improve to 10-12 per cent over FY23-24 from a low of 1 per cent in FY21,” it said and suggested a price target of Rs 122.

At Monday’s close of Rs 81.15, that target suggested a 50 per cent upside.

Motilal Oswal Securities has hiked its earnings estimates by 47 per cent for FY22 and 22 per cent for FY23 post the bank’s Q1 numbers. Estimating an RoA of 0.7 per cent and an RoE of 10.3 per cent by FY23, it has upgraded the stock to ‘buy’, with a revised price target of Rs 100.

ICICIdirect also sees the stock at Rs 100. It listed four factors that would prove key to its performance. First is the shedding of the bank’s low yield exposure and its focus on retail segment. Secondly, a shift to the new tax regime, which is set to aid profitability. The third is the comfortable capital to risky asset ratio at 15.4 per cent, which may keep earnings dilution risk away. Lastly, the decent asset quality amid the tough situation would help.

The bank reported a net profit of Rs 1,209 crore compared with a loss of Rs 864 crore a year ago. Net interest income (NII) rose 16 per cent to Rs 7,892 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) came in at 3.04 per cent against 2.52 per cent YoY and 2.73 per cent QoQ.

Retail loans rose 12 per cent YoY, led by a 25 per cent growth in auto loans, 20 per cent growth in personal loans, and a 38 per cent growth in gold loans.

The loan book, however, declined 2 per cent due to a 10 per cent fall in corporate loans as the bank shed low-yielding loans.

The gross NPA ratio declined marginally to 8.86 per cent from 8.87 per cent in the March quarter and 9.39 per cent the year-ago period, as recovery and upgrades increased to Rs 4,435 crore from Rs 818 crore YoY. The bank management is targeting Rs 14,000 crore in recoveries in FY22 and has guided for 1.5-2 per cent credit cost and net slippages of less than 2 per cent.

“It was a relatively steady performance but uncertainty over subsequent Covid waves and relatively elevated stress pool still temper our enthusiasm on earnings stability. The bank’s recent capital raise was dilutive, which is a persistent challenge for PSBs. We are rolling overestimates to December FY22, revising our target to Rs 98 from Rs 95 earlier,” Edelweiss said.

Edelweiss said the demonstration of the merger value add and, indeed, getting through the current crisis without deep earnings erosion will be key to the stock performance.

The promised post-merger rationalisation benefits are not a foregone conclusion, given the complexity of the task at hand, it said and suggested that the valuation at 0.5 times FY22E P/BV lends some comfort.

JM Financial is building in a credit cost of 1.2 per cent and RoA of 0.7 per cent for FY23. It has a price target of Rs 95 on the stock.



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Analysts suddenly gung ho on this PSU bank, see up to 50% upside, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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NEW DELHI: Bank of Baroda (BoB) impressed Dalal Street with its June quarter operating performance. A double-digit growth in retail loans and an expansion net interest margin (NIM) in the challenging June quarter were noteworthy. Gross non-performing assets fell marginally, but the impact of the second wave of Covid on its retail and MSME books was visible on slippages and credit cost.

Analysts said the situation was still under control and the management commentary was strong.

They said a rebalancing of the portfolio in favour of retail and a gradual decline in the international book would support NIM for the PSU bank. This, along with a moderation in credit cost will improve the return on asset (RoA) trajectory for the bank, analysts said and suggested up to 50 per cent upside for the stock.

“BOB recently raised capital via QIP, leading to a reasonable CET 1 of 11.3 per cent. With the merger (Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank) and asset quality pain now largely over, we expect BoB’s return on equity (RoE) to gradually improve to 10-12 per cent over FY23-24 from a low of 1 per cent in FY21,” it said and suggested a price target of Rs 122.

At Monday’s close of Rs 81.15, that target suggested a 50 per cent upside.

Motilal Oswal Securities has hiked its earnings estimates by 47 per cent for FY22 and 22 per cent for FY23 post the bank’s Q1 numbers. Estimating an RoA of 0.7 per cent and an RoE of 10.3 per cent by FY23, it has upgraded the stock to ‘buy’, with a revised price target of Rs 100.

ICICIdirect also sees the stock at Rs 100. It listed four factors that would prove key to its performance. First is the shedding of the bank’s low yield exposure and its focus on retail segment. Secondly, a shift to the new tax regime, which is set to aid profitability. The third is the comfortable capital to risky asset ratio at 15.4 per cent, which may keep earnings dilution risk away. Lastly, the decent asset quality amid the tough situation would help.

The bank reported a net profit of Rs 1,209 crore compared with a loss of Rs 864 crore a year ago. Net interest income (NII) rose 16 per cent to Rs 7,892 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) came in at 3.04 per cent against 2.52 per cent YoY and 2.73 per cent QoQ.

Retail loans rose 12 per cent YoY, led by a 25 per cent growth in auto loans, 20 per cent growth in personal loans, and a 38 per cent growth in gold loans.

The loan book, however, declined 2 per cent due to a 10 per cent fall in corporate loans as the bank shed low-yielding loans.

The gross NPA ratio declined marginally to 8.86 per cent from 8.87 per cent in the March quarter and 9.39 per cent the year-ago period, as recovery and upgrades increased to Rs 4,435 crore from Rs 818 crore YoY. The bank management is targeting Rs 14,000 crore in recoveries in FY22 and has guided for 1.5-2 per cent credit cost and net slippages of less than 2 per cent.

“It was a relatively steady performance but uncertainty over subsequent Covid waves and relatively elevated stress pool still temper our enthusiasm on earnings stability. The bank’s recent capital raise was dilutive, which is a persistent challenge for PSBs. We are rolling overestimates to December FY22, revising our target to Rs 98 from Rs 95 earlier,” Edelweiss said.

Edelweiss said the demonstration of the merger value add and, indeed, getting through the current crisis without deep earnings erosion will be key to the stock performance.

The promised post-merger rationalisation benefits are not a foregone conclusion, given the complexity of the task at hand, it said and suggested that the valuation at 0.5 times FY22E P/BV lends some comfort.

JM Financial is building in a credit cost of 1.2 per cent and RoA of 0.7 per cent for FY23. It has a price target of Rs 95 on the stock.



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Banks report improved NII, lower NPA provisioning in Q1, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The provision for cumulative non-performing assets (NPA) by banks softened in the June 2021 quarter after a spike in the previous quarter when they resumed accounting for slippages after RBI’s schemes to defer the recognition of actual NPAs ended in December. For a sample of 28 banks, the loan loss or NPA provision fell by 6.8% year-on-year and 43.8% sequentially to Rs 36,805.4 crore in the June quarter.

The aggregate provision by the public sector (PSU) banks fell by 27% year-on-year due to a sharp double digit drop reported by State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, and Bank of Baroda. On the other hand, private sector banks reported 51% jump following a sharp increase reported by HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, Bandhan Bank and RBL Bank. As a result, their share in the total NPAs increased to 42.5% from 26.1% in the year-ago quarter.

The total sample’s net interest income (NII) increased by 4.8% year-on-year to Rs 1.2 lakh crore. A majority of the banks, 20 to be precise, reported higher net interest from the year-ago level. The share of the private banks in the sample’s net interest expanded to 43.8% from 41.7% a year ago.

The sample’s cumulative COVID provisioning increased to Rs 34,641.5 crore in the June quarter from Rs 29,892.8 crore in the previous quarter. Here, the share of PSU banks increased to 34.7% from 26.7% sequentially.

June ’20 September ’20 December ’20 March ’21 June ’21
Loan loss provision (Rs crore) 39504.8 33896.1 28828.5 65542.2 36805.4
Loan loss provision (YoY % change) -17.0 -11.0 -59.6 19.5 -6.8

Share of PSU banks in quarterly provisioning (%)

June ’20 September ’20 December ’20 March ’21 June ’21
PSU share (%) 73.9 77.5 63.7 66.4 57.5
Non-PSU share (%) 26.1 22.5 36.3 33.6 42.5

Data for a sample of 28 banks. Source: Bank data, ETIG



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HDFC Bank to hire 500 more to expand MSME coverage, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Country’s largest private sector lender HDFC Bank, which has a focus on the MSME sector, is hiring 500 more relationship managers this fiscal as the bank is expanding its coverage to 575 districts, a senior banker has said. The headcount addition will take the bank’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) vertical strength to 2,500. As of June end, the HDFC Bank’s employee strength stood around 1.23 lakh.

The bank’s MSME vertical covers 545 districts now with dedicated relationship managers and supervisors, which will be expanded to 575 districts or more by the end of this fiscal.

“As we are expanding our MSME footprint to 575 districts from 545 now, we are hiring over 500 more to the 2,000-strong headcount at the MSME vertical this fiscal year. This should take the overall headcount at the vertical to a little over 2,500,” Sumant Rampal, senior executive vice-president for business banking & healthcare finance, told PTI on Monday.

After reclassification and the resultant tagging of wholesaler and retailer loans under the MSME book, the bank closed the MSME book at Rs 2,01,833 crore in March 2021 quarter, marginally up from Rs 2,01,758 crore in December 2020, when it grew by over 30 per cent.

The government recently asked MSMEs to be re/de-classify themselves based on their turnover and get a Udhyam registration certificate.

The bank’s MSME portfolio is spread across sectors like textiles, fabrication, agri-processing, chemicals, consumer goods, hotels & restaurants, auto components, pharma and paper industry, and also include the entire selling chain ranging from wholesalers, retailers, distributors, stockists and supermarkets, Rampal said.

Rampal said the bank has been increasing its focus on the sector since the past two years, and the same only increased since the pandemic when the government opened a slew of measures to help small businesses tide over the crisis with the emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS) being the biggest booster helping it disburse 30 per cent more loans by December 2020, to Rs 2,01,758 crore.

Rampal said his team has already identified the districts for expansion. Though the bank has regular branches in these identified districts, MSME lending needs special focus based on their unique needs, he said.

He said of the over 5,500 branches, a little over 1,800 of them have more than 25 per cent of their loans coming in MSME accounts and 4,800 of them service this segment of customers.

Geographically speaking, the bank is present in 630 districts of which 545 districts now have special MSME counters.

Giving a break-up of the hiring, he said, of the total 500 planned additions, half will be for the small & medium sub-vertical, which already is a 975-strong team.

Though the RBI last Friday said there was nothing alarming about rise in MSME bad loans, a SIDBI-CIBIL report in late July said, the NPA levels among MSME borrowers surged to 12.6 per cent in the March 2021 quarter, up from 12 per cent in December 2020, while loans to them have jumped to Rs 9.5 lakh crore in FY21 from Rs 6.8 lakh crore in FY20.



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Bank of Baroda clocks Q1 profit of Rs 1,209 crore, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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New Delhi, State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Saturday reported a standalone profit of Rs 1,208.63 crore during the quarter ended June 2021, helped by decline in bad loans provisioning. The bank had posted a net loss of Rs 864 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Total income moderated marginally to Rs 20,022.42 crore from Rs 20,312.44 crore in the same quarter a year ago, BoB said in a regulatory filing.

The bank’s asset quality improved with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) falling to 8.86 per cent of the gross advances as on June 30, 2021, from 9.39 per cent by the end-June 2020. However, net NPA ratio rose to 3.03 per cent from 2.83 per cent as on June 30, 2020, the bank said.

As a result, total provisions and contingencies for the quarter eased to Rs 4,111.99 crore from Rs 5,628 crore a year ago.

Provisioning Coverage Ratio including floating provision stood at 83.14 per cent as on June 30, 2021.

A penalty of Rs 41.75 lakh has been imposed on the bank by Reserve Bank of India for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, it said.

As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular, the bank has opted to provide the liability for frauds over a period of four quarters, it said.

Accordingly, the carry forward provision as on June 30, 2021 is Rs 349.45 crore which is to be amortised in the subsequent quarters by the bank, it said.



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Bank of Baroda clocks Q1 profit of Rs 1,209 crore, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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New Delhi, State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Saturday reported a standalone profit of Rs 1,208.63 crore during the quarter ended June 2021, helped by decline in bad loans provisioning. The bank had posted a net loss of Rs 864 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Total income moderated marginally to Rs 20,022.42 crore from Rs 20,312.44 crore in the same quarter a year ago, BoB said in a regulatory filing.

The bank’s asset quality improved with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) falling to 8.86 per cent of the gross advances as on June 30, 2021, from 9.39 per cent by the end-June 2020. However, net NPA ratio rose to 3.03 per cent from 2.83 per cent as on June 30, 2020, the bank said.

As a result, total provisions and contingencies for the quarter eased to Rs 4,111.99 crore from Rs 5,628 crore a year ago.

Provisioning Coverage Ratio including floating provision stood at 83.14 per cent as on June 30, 2021.

A penalty of Rs 41.75 lakh has been imposed on the bank by Reserve Bank of India for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, it said.

As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular, the bank has opted to provide the liability for frauds over a period of four quarters, it said.

Accordingly, the carry forward provision as on June 30, 2021 is Rs 349.45 crore which is to be amortised in the subsequent quarters by the bank, it said.



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RBI says stress in retail, MSME loans is not alarming, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said there is stress visibility in retail and MSME loan segments but the situation is not alarming.

“With regard to the moment of any kind of stress in the retail segment and MSME segment, we are very closely monitoring, yes there is a visibility of little bit stress from the past data, but definitely it’s not alarming and constantly we are engaged with the regulated entities, particularly the outlier banks and the outlier NBFCs,” RBI Deputy Governor M K Jain said in the post-policy press conference.

He said RBI had advised all regulated entities post Covid to improve their provisions to which they have responded and implemented the parameters tied to the capital adequacy ratio.

“There is a reduction in gross and net NPA as well as slippage ratio, there is an improvement in the provision coverage ratio, and there is also an improvement in the profitability. So the sector isin a better position today than what it was before the Covid pandemic, he said.

Rising stress

Banks and NBFCs have seen stress rising during the last April-June quarter in the retail and MSME segment.

State Bank of India has reported GNPAs rising to 5.32 per cent in April-June quarter compared with 4.98 per cent in the previous quarter. During the quarter the bank reported fresh slippages of Rs 15,666 crore compared with Rs 21,934 crore in the preceding quarter.

Kotak Mahindra Bank reported the gross NPAs at 3.56 per cent in the last quarter against 3.25 per cent in the previous one.

The gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) ratio of banks may rise to 9.8 per cent by March 2022, under a baseline scenario, from 7.48 per cent in March 2021, according to the Financial Stability Report (FSR) released by the RBI early last month.

Under a severe stress scenario, GNPA of banks may increase to 11.22 per cent, the report said.

The asset quality of non-banking finance companies will see elevated stress levels in the near term due to the second wave of the pandemic, but the stress will subside subsequently with improvement in collection efficiencies and rise in restructuring, according to rating agency Icra.



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Co report net loss of Rs 233 cr, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Kolkata: Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has reported Rs 233 crore net loss in the June quarter as compared with Rs 55 crore net profit in the year ago period on rising stress on asset quality and shrinking business.

Loan repayment was severely hit due to the second wave and fresh lockdowns with collection efficiency fell to 78 per cent in June against 94 per cent in March, the bank said. The ratio improved to 93 per cent in July for the bank.

“The second Covid wave and consequent restrictions and lockdowns lashed the industry, especially the micro banking sector,” chief executive Nitin Chugh said.

Its operating profit fell 24 per cent at Rs 163 crore compared with Rs 215 crore over the same period.

The bank created a floating provision of Rs 250 crores to absorb the impact of potential slippages in near future. Its total provision stood at Rs 1,149 crore, covering 8.2 per cent of gross advances, which shrunk 2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 14,037 crore. Provision coverage ratio improved to 75 per cent from 60 per cent three months back.

Its asset quality sharply deteriorated with gross non-performing assets ratio rising to 9.8 per cent at the end of June as against 1 per cent a year back. Net NPA was at 2.7 per cent compared with 0.2 per cent for the same period. The bank wrote off loans worth Rs 280 crore.

“We are hopeful that our customers will resurrect their livelihoods and continue to be resilient. We continued to diversify our asset book as a strategic approach,” he added.

The bank’s non-micro banking portfolio grew to 32 per cent from 22 per cent over the year with the secured portfolio rising to 30 per cent from 21 per cent earlier.

Its deposits rose 24 per cent at Rs 13,673 crore with current and savings bank account ratio being at 20.3 per cent, an improvement from 14.2 per cent a year back.



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City Union Bank posts Q1 net of ₹173 crore

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City Union Bank, on Friday, posted 12 per cent growth in year-on-year net profit to ₹173 crore for the quarter ended June 30. The bank posted a net profit of ₹154 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

The bank’s operating profit grew 8 per cent to ₹383.02 crore in Q1FY22 from ₹356.04 crore for the same quarter last year.

Total income dropped marginally to ₹1,193.08 crore (against ₹1,209.95 crore) during the April-June quarter while interest income fell to ₹997.43 (from ₹1,049.36 crore).

An asset quality evaluation of the bank showed some strain with the gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio increasing to 5.59 per cent in the June quarter from 3.90 per cent a year ago. NPA ratio also went up to 3.49 per cent (from 2.11 per cent).

The total business of the bank grew by 7 per cent to ₹81,001 crore (from ₹75,562 crore) while deposits grew by 9 per cent to ₹44,606 crore and advances increased by 5 per cent to ₹36,395 crore.

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‘Disbursements set to grow, while NPAs will decline’

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Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services has seen an improvement in rural sentiment as the second Covid-19 wave ebbs. Ramesh Iyer, Managing Director and Vice-Chairman, Mahindra Finance, says demand is picking up and collection efficiencies are improving. In an interview with BusinessLine, Iyer said the company will look at expansion in the second half of the fiscal and is well capitalised for its business plans. Edited excerpts:

What kind of growth do you expect this fiscal?

Compared to previous years, the disbursement will be high. I see that volumes will pick up for auto loans, tractors, pre-owned vehicles. Disbursements will see a growth trajectory and NPAs [non-performing assets] will have a declining trajectory.

How confident are you of a reduction in NPA levels?

NPAs in the first quarter were purely due to a liquidity problem for customers, where they couldn’t earn enough and delayed payments. Otherwise, they are not defaulting customers. I would call them as a delay and not a default. We are confident that the customers who have delayed their instalments would definitely pay back.

Mahindra Finance: Macro sentiments turning positive in July

Are there more restructuring requests since the first quarter?

We had about six lakh eligible customers, but we did restructuring for only 60,000 in the first quarter. I would not expect the restructuring numbers to be very high this quarter but there could be some demand from commercial and passenger vehicles. It could be 30,000 to 35,000 customers. In terms of exposure, along with what we did in June, it should not account more than 4-5 per cent of the book.

Is demand picking up?

Even during this pandemic, we didn’t see too many cancellations, but dealerships were closed. With the opening-up in June, we did see volumes pick up and it continued in July. Normally, July and August are not great months for vehicle purchase. People wait for the festival season. This could also be pent-up demand from the first quarter. We all hope and pray there is no severe third wave; and with a good monsoon one could expect both September and October to do well, especially as infrastructure work gathers pace. With both of that happening, it could be a good buoyant story from a rural perspective.

Mahindra Finance posts Q1 net loss of ₹1,573 crore

Will this be a year of expansion for you?

It will be a mix in terms of people and branches. We will definitely add in the second half. By then we will know, the third-wave behaviour, if any, and we will also know how the harvest is panning out. We are also ensuring adequate investment in technology. We have built a very strong digital and AI team, and they are looking at various processes that can be digitised. Our data team is looking at the millions of data we have and coming out with forecasts based on trends.

Are you looking at new products or focus areas?

From our point of view, it’s important to capture three areas for further growth. We have created a very strong SME [small and medium-sized enterprises] vertical, where we are working with a large Mahindra ecosystem, and other OEM [original equipment manufacturer] ecosystem, where we will support suppliers for their capex or working capital requirements. We have chosen three industries to work with — auto, agriculture and engineering — where we think there is a lot of play for SME players. In the vehicle segment, pre-owned vehicles will be a good growth segment. As infrastructure opens up, tractor volumes will pick up. Many OEMs in cars are also reaching out to rural markets with their launches and that can become a natural synergy for us to gain volume. We do believe that leasing in the next three years will become a prominent play. We have set up a digital finco for small-ticket consumer durable and personal loans. The platform is live but this is a testing year. While we have done some loans, from April you will see a lot of aggression in this business.

Are there any outstanding issues for NBFCs?

The issue of liquidity has been addressed now. If at all the third wave happens and impacts customers, then expectations would be for a moratorium for customers. In restructuring, typically, customers are a little worried about the interest burden; but in a moratorium, they are very clear that they will not have to pay an instalment for a certain period. It helps both the company and the customer.

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