New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Microfinance lender Satin Creditcare on Friday reported a net loss of Rs 80 crore for the third quarter ended December 2020.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 47 crore in the same quarter a year earlier.

Gross income of the lender was down at Rs 321 crore as against Rs 375 crore in Q3 FY20, Satin Creditcare said in a regulatory filing.

Net interest income stood at Rs 162 crore during the quarter, as against Rs 227 crore earlier.

However, there was an increase of 8.2 per cent in the company's asset under management (AUM) at Rs 7,880 crore as of December 31, 2020.

During Q3 FY21, the consolidated disbursement stood at Rs 1,822 crore as compared to Rs 2,193 crore in Q3 FY20, it said.

The company has witnessed a gradual improvement in the disbursement growth which got impacted in H1 FY21 on account of the COVID-induced disruption and nationwide lockdown.

On the asset quality front, its gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at 1.5 per cent of the gross advances by the end of December 2020.

Satin Creditcare said it has not recognized any NPAs since August 31, 2020, in line with the interim order of the Supreme Court. However, the company has identified such accounts as stage 3 and made provisions accordingly.

GNPA stood at 0.5 per cent without considering Assam. The pro-forma GNPA and NNPA stood at 9.6 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively as on December 31, 2020.

The rise in NPAs this quarter was primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown earlier in the fiscal year. Pro-forma GNPA without considering Assam stood at 7.6 per cent, it said.

Poll-bound Assam government earlier in December introduced a Bill in the assembly seeking to protect economically vulnerable groups and individuals from the hardship of usurious interest rates and coercive means of recovery by microfinance institutions or money lending agencies.

Last month, ratings firm Crisil said the Bill passed by the Assam assembly to control the microfinance industry in the state has the potential to increase asset-quality challenges for the sector.

H P Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of Satin Creditcare Network Limited, said: "During Q3FY21 we saw much better business momentum as our disbursement grew by 154 per cent sequentially to Rs 1,822 crores (reaching nearly 80 per cent of Q3FY20). Further, we saw a significant pick in on-ground collections with our collection efficiency improving to 98 per cent in December 2020."

"Going forward we expect profitability to improve in the next financial year as provisions decline in the coming quarters," he added.

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