Esaf Small Finance Bank Q4 Results: Net profit plunges 57% YoY to Rs 43 crore

Kolkata: Esaf Small Finance Bank on Wednesday reported a 57% year-on-year fall in net profit for the March quarter on account of nearly a three-fold rise in provisions and contingencies, reflecting a sharp deterioration in asset quality.

The net profit was at Rs 43.4 crore against Rs 101.4 crore in the year-ago period.

The bank’s operating profit was 30% higher at Rs 285 crore against Rs 219 crore but provisions and contingencies at Rs 226 crore against Rs 82 crore pulled the net profit down.

Gross non-performing assets more than doubled at Rs 893 crore as compared with Rs 352 crore. The gross NPA ratio was at 4.76% at the end of March against 2.49% a year back. Net NPA ratio stood at 2.26% against 1.13%.

The Kerala-headquartered lender saw its gross advances grow 33% year-on-year to Rs 18,772 crore while deposits rose 35.5% to Rs 19,868 crore.Its total income was 33% higher at Rs 1152 crore against Rs 868 crore while total expenditure also rose 34% at Rs 867 against Rs 649 crore, largely on account of higher interest payment to depositors. However, net interest income grew 29% year-on-year at Rs 2,370 crore.The bank board at its meeting Wednesday proposed a dividend of Rs 0.70 per share for FY24. Last year it did not pay any dividend.