ESAF Small Finance Bank Q1 profit jumps to Rs 106 cr amid fall in bad loans

ESAF Small Finance Bank on Friday said it posted a profit of Rs 106 crore for the first quarter ended June helped by a rise in interest income and a decline in bad loans.

The Kerala-based lender had booked a loss of Rs 15.85 crore during the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal year.

The operating profit (which it defines as net profit plus provisions and contingencies) grew twofold to Rs 225.29 crore from Rs 105.74 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal year, the bank said in a statement.

Total income increased by 66.35 per cent to Rs 738.32 crore from Rs 443.83 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal year.

The bank's net interest income (interest income less interest expenditure) increased to Rs 449 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2022, from Rs 223 crore in the same quarter a year ago, representing a sharp growth of 101.45 per cent.

Other income improved by 27.74 per cent to Rs 48.01 crore from Rs 37.59 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2021, it said.

On the asset quality front, gross bad loans or non-performing assets (NPA) declined to 6.16 per cent of gross advances at the end of June as against 10.39 per cent in the year-ago period. Similarly, net NPA too slipped to 3.78 per cent from 5.84 per cent.

"The bank as a prudent measure holds additional contingency provision over the RBI requirement in the standard category to the extent of Rs 109.41 crore as of June 30, 2022, as against Rs 24 crore as on June 30, 2021, and Rs 66.06 crore as on March 31, 2022," it said.

Capital Adequacy Ratio of the bank stood at 20.31 per cent at the end of June quarter.