Yes Bank in India reports unexpected 80% drop in quarterly profit

Yes Bank in India reported an 80% drop in quarterly profit on Saturday, owing to increased provisions for bad loans.

 

For the three months ending December 31, net profit fell to 515.20 million rupees ($6.36 million) from 2.66 billion rupees the previous year. According to Refinitiv IBES data, analysts expected profit to rise to 3.36 billion rupees.

 

In the third quarter, the net interest margin, a key indicator of a bank’s profitability, increased by 10 basis points to 2.5%.

 

Asset quality improved as gross non-performing assets fell to 2.02% of total loans, down from 12.89% in the previous quarter. Net non-performing assets fell from 3.60% to 1.03%.

 

In addition, Chief Executive Prashant Kumar stated in a call on Saturday that the bank hopes to recover around 10 billion rupees in the current quarter.

 

Net interest income, defined as the difference between interest income from lending and interest income paid to depositors, increased 11.7% to 19.71 billion rupees. Provisions increased to 8.44 billion rupees in the third quarter, up from 5.82 billion rupees in the previous quarter.