Mumbai based private lender, Axis Bank has announced its result for the first quarter of the current fiscal. The bank has registerd a strong 22% growth in profits after tax, which for the period ending June 30 were Rs. 1,154 crore (Rs. 942 crore in FY12). The bank registered a 30% growth in credit and 21% growth in deposits, which were Rs. 1,71,146 crore and Rs. 2,22,631 crore respectively.The current account savings account (CASA) ratio, which indicates higher proportions of low cost funds grew by 16% to 39%. The income from core operations, net interest income whihc is a difference between interest earned and interest paid saw an increase of 26% from Rs. 1,724 crore to Rs. 2,180 crore. One of the key indicator of bank's profitability , the net interest margin (NIM) rose by 9 basis points to 3.37% (3.28%); but this was down from the previous quarter (January-March) due to higher cost of funds. The bank increased structured assets from Rs. 588 crore in previous quarter to Rs. 628 crores. A large majority (80%) of this rise came from structuring large and mid-corporates sector. However, the lender saw a slight deterioration in asset quality, where the net nonperforming assets (NPA) as a ratio of total advances went up to 0.31% from 0.25% in quarter ending March. "Gross slippages during the quarter have come from large corporates across segments with Rs 456 crore turning to NPAs," stated Mr. Somnath Sengupta, CFO, Axis Bank. Slippages is the turning of performing assets into nonperforming assets. |