Rs 2,137-crore tax write-down has Axis Bank in red

Mumbai: Axis Bank on Tuesday reported a Rs 18.14-crore net loss at a consolidated level for the three months to September period, driven down by a Rs 2,137-crore deferred tax write down.

Excluding this massive tax write-down, the bank's standalone net has jumped 157 percent to Rs 2,026 crore.

Instead the third largest private sector lender booked a net loss of Rs 112 crore against a net income of Rs 789.61 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal.

The lender's core net interest income grew 17 percent to Rs 6,102 crore, boosted by a 19 percent loan growth and a widening of the key net interest margin to 3.51 percent.

Another boost came in from other income which jumped to Rs 3,895 crore from Rs 2,678 crore, the Axis bank said, adding the core fee income also clipped at 11 percent on a healthy growth in retail fees.

On the asset quality front, which has been a painful area for the bank for the past many quarters, the gross non- performing assets ratio improved to 5.03 from 5.96.

Fresh slippages came in at Rs 4,983 crore, largely due to more than Rs 2,800 crore of corporate advances slipping into NPAs, chief executive and managing director Amitabh Chaudhry told reporters.

Chief financial officer Jairam Sridharan said as much as 97 percent of the fresh corporate slippages are from a list of non-investment grade accounts, which are largely legacy in nature, and that the same has come down 16 percent to Rs 6,291 crore from Rs 7,467 crore.

Some of the troubled shadow banks are a part of this list, the bank

management said.