Bank of Maharashtra Q1 profit rises 47 pc to Rs 1,293 cr on improved interest income

New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) on Monday reported 47 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 1,293 crore for June quarter FY25 as bad loans declined and interest income improved.

The Pune-based lender had clocked a net profit of Rs 882 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income in the quarter under review rose to Rs 6,769 crore from Rs 5,417 crore a year ago, the state-owned lender said in a regulatory filing.

Interest earned by the bank grew to Rs 5,875 crore as compared to Rs 4,789 crore in June quarter FY24.

Net Interest Income (NII) rose by 19.63 per cent to Rs 2,799 crore in Q1FY25 as against Rs 2,340 crore in Q1FY24.

The bank's asset quality improved as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to 1.85 per cent of gross advances at the end of June quarter FY25 from 2.28 per cent a year ago.

Similarly, net NPAs or bad loans, declined to 0.20 per cent as against 0.24 per cent in the year-ago period.

BoM Managing Director and CEO Nidhu Saxena told reporters that Net Interest Margin of the bank improved to 3.97 per cent as against 3.86 per cent at the end of first quarter of previous fiscal.

The outlook for NIM for the current fiscal year is 3.75 per cent as there are indications of rate cut, he said.

On the equity capital raising plan, he said, the bank's board has given approval for raising Rs 5,000 crore during the current financial year.

Asked about the timing, he said, the bank is yet to get approval from the government.

This will help bring down the government's stake in the bank, which is 86.46 per cent, he said.

However, Saxena said, the bank is unlikely to meet Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) norms during the current financial year.

According to SEBI, all listed companies must maintain an MPS of 25 per cent. However, the regulator has given special extension to state-owned banks. They have time till August 2024 to meet the requirement of 25 per cent MPS.

Saxena also said the bank is planning to raise Rs 10,000 crore through infrastructure bonds to fund projects.

In the first tranche, the bank is hoping to garner Rs 2,000-2,500 crore from infrastructure bonds.

Currently, the bank has infrastructure exposure of about Rs 27,000 crore.

Capital adequacy ratio of the bank declined to 17.04 per cent from 18.07 per cent in the same quarter of FY24.

Credit growth of the bank increased by 19 per cent while deposit grew by 10 per cent. The bank has taken initiatives to improve deposit mobilisation, he said.

The Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) stood at 98.36 per cent at the end of June.

The bank raised Rs 1,000 crore Basel III compliant Tier II bonds at 7.89 per cent on July 4. PTI DP DP ANU ANU