.mumbai BCM19 BIZ-LD-RBLBANK-RESULTS RBL Bank net soars 37% on healthy loan growth

(Eds: Adding management quotes and more details) Mumbai, Apr 27 (PTI) Cooperative-turned commercial lender RBL Bank today reported a 37 per cent surge in its March quarter net at Rs 178.12 crore on a

(Eds: Adding management quotes and more details) Mumbai, Apr 27 (PTI) Cooperative-turned commercial lender RBL Bank today reported a 37 per cent surge in its March quarter net at Rs 178.12 crore on a healthy growth in core income.

For the full fiscal year to March, its profit soared 42 per cent to Rs 635 crore.

“We will continue to grow our loan book at 30-35 per cent in this fiscal as well,” managing director and chief executive Vishwavir Ahuja told reporters here.

The bank, which saw a complete overhaul of top management seven years ago and got listed last year, saw the core net interest income rise 42 per cent to Rs 500 crore on a 37 per cent growth in advances.

Net interest margin widened to 3.98 per cent from 3.52 per cent a year ago and also aided the core income. Other income was up 32 per cent to Rs 311.98 crore.

Ahuja said retail loans grew faster during the year and now contribute 41 per cent of the loan book, with the rest coming in from wholesale banking.

Bulk of the 32 per cent unsecured loan book is unsecured, he said, adding non-performing assets in the credit card business are at 0.88 per cent, which is lower than 1.25 per cent for retail segment and the overall 1.40 per cent reported by the bank.

The bank reported credit cost of 0.94 per cent for the year and Ahuja exuded confidence that it will improve further going ahead.

It was successful to increase its provision coverage ratio by 5 percentage points in a single quarter to 58 and exuded confidence of breaching the 60-percent mark in the next six months.

Ahuja said capital adequacy stood at 15.33 per cent with the core tier-I capital at 13.61 per cent, which according to him will suffice for at least two years.

The bank is planning to pick up the remaining about 40 per cent stake in its business correspondent subsidiary Swadhar in the next four months, Ahuja said, adding it has received RBI nod for the same.

The RBL counter rallied 3.2 per cent to Rs 536.20 on the BSE in anticipation of the results. The Sensex gained 0.74 per cent today.

This is published unedited from the PTI feed.