Karnataka Bank plunges 9% as NPAs rise, NII declines

New Delhi: Shares of Karnataka Bank tanked as much as 9 per cent during the early trade on Thursday as the net interest income (NII) declined and gross non performing assets (NPA) surged during the March quarter. However, the net profit of the private lender grew 15 per cent.

Karnataka Bank reported a net profit of Rs 31.36 crore in fourth quarter ended March 2021, on the dip in provisions and contingencies. It had posted a net profit of Rs 27.31 crore in the same quarter last year.

The scrip tanked 9 per cent to Rs 65.75 on Thursday. BSE Sensex was marginally up by 8.93 points or 0.02 at 51,026.45 at the time of writing this report. The counter was settled at Rs 71.90 in the previous session.

Private sector lender Karnataka Bank Wednesday posted an all time high annual net profit of Rs. 482.57 crore for the financial year 2020-21, registering a 12 per cent growth over the previous year’s revenues.

Mangalore-based lender's net interest income for the quarter was down 13.25 per cent to Rs 459.14 crore from Rs 529.3 crore a year ago. The other income also declined 8.24 per cent.

Shares of Karnataka Bank have doubled investor's wealth in the last one year surging to Rs 73.45 in March this year from Rs 34.20 on May 29, 2020. However, the stock is trading 11 below its recent peak.

The gross non-performing Assets (NPAs) rose to 4.91 per cent in March 2021 as compared to 4.82 per cent in March 2020 and 3.16 per cent in the quarter ended on December 31, 2020.

Similarly, the Net NPAs rose to 3.18 per cent in March 2021 from 3.08 per cent in the same quarter a year ago and 1.74 per cent in the previous quarter.

The bank’s board also recommended a dividend of 18 per cent. The bank also announced the appointment of Balakrishna Alse, a former executive director of Oriental Bank of Commerce, as an additional director on its board.