Central Bank of India Q3 profit at Rs 164 crore, NPA provision comes down

New Delhi: Central Bank of India on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 164.28 crore for December quarter 2019-20.

The state-owned bank had posted a net loss of Rs 681.16 crore for October-December period of the previous fiscal.

Total income rose to Rs 7,307.98 crore during the quarter under review from Rs 6,356 crore in the year-ago period, the lender said in a regulatory filing.

The bank's provisioning for non-performing assets (NPAs) fell to Rs 379.79 crore during the quarter as against Rs 1,996.50 crore parked aside for the year-ago same period. The overall provisions and contingencies were at Rs 1,249.61 crore, down from Rs 1,812.67 crore.

On standalone basis, the bank reported a profit of Rs 155.32 crore in the third quarter. It registered a loss of Rs 718.23 crore for the year-ago period. Income increased to Rs 7,278.29 crore from Rs 6,329.17 crore.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) were high at 19.99 per cent of the gross advances as at December 31, 2019, compared with 20.64 per cent by the end of December 2018.

Net NPAs wert at 9.26 per cent as compared to 10.32 per cent earlier. In absolute numbers, gross NPAs stood at Rs 33,258.59 crore by the end of December quarter 2019-20, as against Rs 35,332.68 crore by the end of the same period a year ago. Net NPAs stood at Rs 13,568.05 crore, down from Rs 15,605.07 crore by the end of December 2018.

Disclosing the bank's position on the NPA divergence for 2018-19, as assessed by the Reserve Bank, Central Bank said there was a gap of Rs 2,565 crore in gross bad loans.

The bank had reported gross NPAs of Rs 32,356.04 crore for 2018-19, while the RBI assessed it at Rs 34,921.04 crore. Net NPAs were reported at Rs 11,333.24 crore, whereas the RBI assessed them at Rs 13,898.24 crore, leading to a divergence of Rs 2,565 crore.