Karnataka Bank's mantra for FY21: Conserve, consolidate and emerge strong

NEW DELHI: In view of an uncertainty created by the Covid outbreak, Karnataka Bank has said that its mantra for the current fiscal will be "conserve, consolidate and emerge stronger".

"As far as the outlook for the current financial year is concerned, we are seeing limited growth opportunities because of the situation currently prevailing," Karnataka Bank MD and CEO Mahabaleshwara MS said during earnings conference call.

Going ahead, he said, the focus will be more on the bottomline so as to "conserve, consolidate and emerge stronger", adding that is the business mantra for Karnataka Bank for the current year.

The bank will be focusing more on retail and mid-corporates; CASA (current account and savings account); trading profit; recovery and NPA management; and third-party products, he said as per the transcript of the conference call.

On the moratorium, he said about 34.67 per cent of the bank's customers have opted for the moratorium and by value it amounts to 46.62 per cent.

He said the number may go up as the pandemic advances.

To a related query, he said in some of the cases, hardly there is moratorium availed, "say for example, if you look at our NBFC book, only about 10 per cent by value and about less than 5 per cent by number had availed the moratorium so far".

Also in the agriculture sector as of May 31, only 19.34 per cent of the bank's customers in terms of number and around 39.98 per cent by value had availed moratorium.

"So under each sector it is varying, so we are keeping a close watch on that," he said.

Karnataka Bank had reported a 56 per cent decline in net profit for the March quarter at Rs 27.31 crore. The private sector lender had posted a net profit of Rs 61.73 crore in the same period of the preceding fiscal ended March 2019.