New Delhi, Jan 25 (PTI) AU Small Finance Bank Ltd on Thursday reported a 4 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 375 crore for the third quarter ended December 2023, mainly due to a rise in bad loans.

The Jaipur-based bank had earned a profit of Rs 393 crore in the same quarter of FY23.

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The total income of the bank increased to Rs 3,186 crore during the quarter under review against Rs 2,413 crore in the same period last year, AU Small Finance Bank said in a regulatory filing.

The bank's interest income rose to Rs 2,736 crore compared to Rs 2,118 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal.

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On the asset quality front, the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) increased to 1.98 per cent of the gross loans at the end of December 2023 from 1.81 per cent a year ago.

Similarly, net NPAs or bad loans also rose to 0.68 per cent from 0.51 per cent at the end of the third quarter of the previous fiscal.

As a result, the provisions and contingencies jumped to Rs 159 crore from Rs 33 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Its total expenses rose to Rs 2,528 crore from Rs 1,857 crore in the October-December period of the preceding fiscal.

The merger announced with Fincare Small Finance Bank in the last quarter is on track with both the CCI and shareholder approvals in place leaving the RBI approval pending, Sanjay Agarwal, chief executive and founder of the bank, said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)