Bank of Maharashtra net profit jumps to Rs 135 cr in Dec qtr; NII up 36%

State-run Bank of Maharashtra on Monday reported a net profit of Rs 135 crore in the quarter ended December against a net loss of Rs 3,764 crore in the year-ago period.

On quarter-on-quarter basis, the lender had reported a net profit of Rs 115 crore.

"Net profit increased to Rs 135 crore in the quarter supported by an increase in net interest income, robust recovery and control on expenses," the bank said in a statement.

Net interest income (NII) rose 36 per cent to Rs 1,186 crore.

Net interest margins (NIM) stood at 2.86 per cent compared to 2.41 per cent in the year-ago period.

For the nine months ended December 2019, its profit after tax stood at Rs 331 crore as against a net loss of Rs 4,856 crore in the same period last year.

The Gross NPA improved to 16.77 per cent, or Rs 15,746 crore from 17.31 per cent, or Rs 15,509 crore.

Net NPAs (non-performing assets) stood at 5.46 per cent or Rs 4,507 crore as against 5.91 per cent or Rs 4,647 crore.

During the quarter, it classified Rs 72,019 crore of loans as fraud and holds a 100 per cent provisioning on these accounts.

The bank said it sees a very bleak chances of recovery from a few accounts and have adequately made provision.

In the April-December period, it made 100 per cent provision for 25 such accounts and 50 per cent provision for three accounts.

Total provision for these accounts as of December 31, 2019 stood at Rs 2,403.37 crore. It restructured 3,445 MSME accounts worth Rs 24,747 lakh in the second quarter as per the January 1 circular of the RBI.

Capital adequacy ratio increased to 11.21 per cent against 11.049 per cent and tier 1 ratio stood at 9.44 per cent as of December-end.

Total business grew by 4.55 per cent to Rs 2,35,867 crore.

Deposits was up by 4.4 per cent to Rs 1,41,986 crore while credit stood at Rs 93,882 crore as on December 31, 2019.

Bank of Maharashtra cuts MCLR by 0.10% to 8.40% effective October 8

State-owned Bank of Maharashtra on Thursday announced a cut in its marginal cost of funds based lending rates by 0.10 per cent across tenors.

The benchmark one-year marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) will now be priced at 8.40 per cent with effect from October 8, 2019, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

The other tenors from overnight to six-months have been slashed by equal measure in the range of 8.05-8.30 per cent.

The lender has also cut down the repo linked lending rate (RLLR) by 0.25 per cent to 8.20 per cent from 8.45 per cent earlier with effect from October 8.

Base rate has been kept unchanged at 9.50 per cent per annum, the bank said.

Stock of the bank was trading at Rs 10.41 on BSE, down 3.61 per cent on BSE.

Bank of Maharashtra cuts benchmark one-year MCLR by 0.10% to 8.60%

A day after the RBI cut the key repo rate, public sector Bank of Maharashtra Friday announced to cut the benchmark one-year MCLR by 0.10 per cent to 8.60 per cent.

Bank of Maharashtra has reviewed and reduced its marginal cost of funds based lending rates (MCLR) with effect from June 7, 2019, it said in a release.

The one-year MCLR is the benchmark against which most customer loans such as auto, personal and home loans are priced.

Among other loan tenors, the overnight MCLR will attract an interest of 8.15 per cent, down by 0.05 per cent, while the three-month tenor rate has been slashed by an equal margin to 8.40 per cent.

The Reserve Bank in its second bi-monthly policy decision announcement Thursday cut the repo rate -- at which it lends to banks -- by 0.25 per cent to 5.75 per cent, aimed at spurring demand and boost the economy.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had expressed concerns that banks were slow in transmitting the benefits to the consumer despite successive rate cuts.

India's economic growth is estimated to have slowed to a five-year low of 6.8 per cent in 2018-19.

The RBI has also cut down the GDP expansion forecast to 7 per cent for the current fiscal, against its earlier projection of 7.2 per cent due to slowdown in domestic activities and escalation in global trade war.

 

Bank of Maharashtra lowers lending rates by a nominal 5 basis points

A day after the Reserve Bank of India reduced the benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points for the second consecutive time, state-run Bank of Maharashtra on Friday announced a nominal 5 bps reduction in its lending rates across various tenors.

In a 4:2 majority vote, the central bank had cut the repo rate to 6 per cent from 6.25 citing the need to support growth that has lost momentum of late in the first bi-monthly monetary policy announced on Thursday.

The central bank also lowered its GDP forecast for FY20 to 7.2 from 7.4 percent projected in the February review while also lowered its inflation forecast to 2.9 to 3.8 per cent for the year.

The Pune-based BoM reduced its one-year marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) to which most of the bank lending rates are linked, to 8.70 per cent from 8.75.

The six- month, three-month and one-month MCLR have also been revised downwards to 8.50, 8.45 and 8.25 percent, respectively.

The lender left its base rate unchanged at 9.50 percent, though. It can be noted that after the February rate cut, BoM was the first lender to announce a nominal 5 bps reduction in the pricing of its six months products.

While talking to the reporters after the policy announcement, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das had said despite two consecutive rate cuts by the monetary authority, appropriate and effective transmission is still missing.

"After the last meeting I had held with banks some of them have marginally (up to 5-10 bps) cut their MCLR, but they need to do more," he had told reporters post the policy announcement Thursday.

Das said credit flows to micro and small as well as medium industries have remained tepid, though they improved for large industries.

"While bank credit is growing at 14.3 per cent it is not a broad-based. Bank credit to micro and small industries, which are critical to employment and exports, was flat at 0.6 per cent and also credit to medium industries at 0.7 percent," he had said.