Axis Bank Q4 Profit: Rs 7,599 Cr, Deposit Concerns

Mumbai, Apr 24 (PTI) Axis Bank on Wednesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,599 crore during March 2024 quarter, but expressed concerns over deposit accretion in the new fiscal.

On a standalone basis, it reported a net profit of Rs 7,130 crore in the January-March period.

The bank had posted a loss in the year-ago period as a result of the impact of the acquisition of Citi's retail business.

Sequentially, the bank's net profit grew 17 per cent as compared to Rs 6,071 crore earnings recorded in the preceding quarter of FY24.

In the entire FY24, the bank's net profit zoomed to Rs 24,861.43 crore from Rs 9,579.68 crore.

During the reporting quarter, its core net interest income grew 11 per cent to Rs 13,089 crore. Advances rose 14 per cent while the net interest margin expanded by 0.05 per cent to 4.06 per cent.

The other income grew 41 per cent to Rs 6,766 crore during the fourth quarter, led by an increase in the core fees.

Its overall deposit growth came at 16 per cent, but the credit-to-deposit ratio came at a high of over 90 per cent.

Axis Bank's managing director and chief executive Amitabh Chaudhry told reporters that he sees deposit growth to remain a constraint and liquidity being tight going ahead as well.

The loan growth was driven by retail segment at 20 per cent, along with a 7 per cent growth in small business portfolio and a 3 per cent rise in corporate lending.

The bank's deputy managing director Rajiv Anand said the rates at which corporates can borrow from the bond market may preclude the bank from participating in the loan growth opportunities in the segment.

Rather than only NII, the entire corporate sector engagement should also be looked at from a fee perspective, he added.

On the unsecured credit side, where there have been concerns expressed by the regulator, the personal loans grew 31 per cent while credit card advances were up 30 per cent.

The fresh slippages came at Rs 3,375 crore, and the gross non-performing asset ratio improved to 1.43 per cent as of March 31.

Axis Bank added 475 branches in FY24 and its total network now stands at 5,377 branches. It had over 1.04 lakh employees as of March 2024.

The overall capital adequacy stood at 16.63 per cent as of the end of the fiscal year, and included the core capital buffer of 13.74 per cent.

The bank reported a 22 per cent growth in net profit from subsidiaries at Rs 1,591 crore in FY24.

Among the subsidiaries, Axis Finance reported a 28 per cent growth at Rs 475 crore, and the brokerage business net profit shot up 48 per cent to Rs 301 crore.

The Axis Bank scrip closed 0.69 per cent higher at Rs 1,063.70 apiece on the BSE, as against a 0.16 per cent gain in the benchmark.