Mumbai, Jun 4 (PTI) State-owned Bank of India reported a standalone profit after tax of Rs 250 crore for March quarter 2020-21 as bad loans shrunk.

The lender had incurred a standalone loss of Rs 3,571 crore in the year-ago period.

For financial year 2020-21, net profit stood at Rs 2,160 crore as against net loss of Rs 2,957 crore in the previous year.

“During the year, the gross and net non-performing assets (NPAs) showed improvement both in quantum and percentage,” bank's Managing Director and CEO A K Das told reporters.

Gross NPA ratio improved to 13.77 per cent from 14.78 per cent. Net NPAs stood at 3.35 per cent as against 3.88 per cent.

“By March 2022, we will aim to bring down our GNPA ratio by 2-2.5 percentage points to around 12 per cent,” he said.

Net interest income (NII) declined 22.60 per cent to Rs 2,936 crore in the quarter as against Rs 3,793 crore in the year-ago period.

Domestic net interest margins (NIM) declined to 2.16 per cent from 3.18 per cent.

Das attributed the lower NIM to a fall in yield on advances, which was more than the fall in the bank's cost of deposits, and to muted growth in domestic advances.

He expects NIM to improve to 2.5 per cent in 2021-22.

The bank's recovery during the fourth quarter was Rs 975 crore and upgradation at Rs 109 crore.

Fresh slippages were to the tune of Rs 7,368 crore in the quarter under review.

Provision coverage ratio improved to 86.24 per cent from 83.74 per cent a year ago. Total provisions declined 70.37 per cent to Rs 1,844 crore in the quarter under review. Provisions on bad loans also fell 58 per cent to Rs 3,089 crore.

The Capital Adequacy Ratio improved to 14.93 per cent in March 2021 from 13.10 per cent in March 2020. The common equity tier (CET-1) ratio stood at 11.51 per cent.

The lender's domestic advances grew 1.31 per cent to Rs 3,62,361 crore and deposits rose 14.22 per cent to Rs 5,51,135 crore.

The bank expects 5-6 per cent credit growth in 2021-22, Das said.

Bank of India stock on Friday closed at Rs 82.30, up 2.62 per cent on BSE.

(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)