Bank of Baroda witnessed an improvement in its asset quality. File 
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Bank of Baroda reported that its first-quarter standalone net profit grew 9.5% to ₹4,458 crore over the year-ago period, driven by lower credit cost.

The bank’s Net Interest Income (NII) grew 5% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹11,600 crore, the bank said in a filing. The Net Interest Margin (NIM) stood at 3.18% in Q1FY25, it added.

“We reported good net profit in the quarter. The focus in the quarter was on the liability management side. We protected the margins through liability management and we had control on the cost of deposits [sequentially],” said Debadatta Chand, MD & CEO, Bank of Baroda over a conference call.

The Return on Assets (ROA) during the quarter ended June 30, 2024, remained consistently above 1% for 8 quarters and stood at 1.13% for Q1FY25, he added.

NPA down, deposits up

The bank said it had witnessed an improvement in its asset quality with the reduction in GNPA by 63 bps YoY to 2.88% from 3.51%. The Gross NAP reduced by 11.4% YoY to ₹39,873 crore.

The bank’s Net NPA reduced by 9 bps YoY to 0.69% as against 0.78%.

The bank’s cost of deposits during the quarter increased by 38 bps to 5.06% as against 4.68% YoY. 

The bank’s provisions for the quarter reduced 48% to ₹1,011 crore. The credit cost remained below 1% at 0.47% for the quarter. The Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) was 93.32%.

The bank’s advances registered a growth of 8.1% YoY led by robust retail loan book growth. Its organic retail advances grew 20.9%, driven by growth across segments such as auto loan (25.1%), home loan (14.7%), personal loan (39.2%), mortgage loan (11%) and education loan (18.8%).

The bank’s deposits grew 8.9% YoY to Rs 13,06,994 crore and global business grew 8.6% YoY and stood at Rs 23,78,675 crore as of 30 June 2024.