RBI imposes Rs. 2.5 crore penalty on three banks


The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a monetary penalty on three private and public sector lenders on Friday. The central bank charged Jammu & Kashmir Bank with 
Rs.2.5 crore penalty, while the Bank of Maharashtra faced a fine of Rs.1.45 crore. Axis Bank received the least amount of penalty among them to the tune of Rs.30 lakh.


Jammu & Kashmir Bank:

RBI imposed a Rs.2.5 crore penalty on J&K Bank for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Creation of a Central Repository of Large Common Exposures-Across Banks’, read with ‘Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) – Revision in Reporting’, ‘Loans and Advances – Statutory and other Restrictions’ and ‘Time-bound implementation and strengthening of SWIFT-related operational controls’.

According to RBI's inspection, J&K Bank non-complied in --- (i) failed to ensure integrity and quality of data submitted to CRILC, (ii) extended term loans to a corporation (a) without undertaking due diligence on the viability and bankability of the projects to ensure that revenue streams from the projects are sufficient to take care of the debt servicing obligations and (b) failing to ensure that the repayment/servicing of said term loans were not made out of budgetary resources and (iii) created financial/non-financial messages in SWIFT without first ensuring that the underlying transactions have been duly reflected in the CBS.


Bank of Maharashtra:

This government-owned bank was imposed with Rs.1.45 crore penalty for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Loans and Advances – Statutory and Other Restrictions’ and Advisory on ‘Man in the Middle (MiTM) Attacks in ATMs’ (the Advisory).

BoM committed non-compliance in the extent of --- (1) it sanctioned a term loan to a Corporation (i) in lieu of or to substitute budgetary resources envisaged for certain projects; (ii) without undertaking due diligence on the viability and bankability of the projects to ensure that revenue streams from the projects were sufficient to take care of the debt servicing obligations; and (iii) the repayment/servicing of which was made out of budgetary resources, and (2) it failed to implement required control measures for ATMs relating to end-to-end encryption of communication between the ATM terminal/PC and the ATM Switch, within the prescribed timeline.


Axis Bank:

Axis Bank, one of the leading private sector lenders, was penalised with Rs.30 lakh due to its non-compliance with certain provisions of the RBI directions on ‘Prudential Norms on Income Recognition, Asset Classification and Provisioning pertaining to Advances – Credit Card Accounts’.

As per RBI's inspection, Axis Bank had levied penal charges in certain accounts for late payment of credit card dues though the customers had paid the dues by the due date, through third party platforms.


Notably, before imposing the charges, RBI had sent notices to these three banks --- advising them to show cause as to why a penalty should not be imposed on them for failure to comply with the directions issued.


After considering the banks' reply to the notice, RBI came to the conclusion that the charge of non-compliance with the aforesaid RBI directions was substantiated and warranted the imposition of monetary penalty on these banks.

Share:

Axis Bank Q1 Results: Profit zooms 91% YoY


Axis Bank on Monday reported a 91 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit at Rs 4,125.26 crore for the June quarter compared with Rs 2,160.15 crore in the same quarter last year. 
An ET NOW poll of analysts had anticipated the profit figure at Rs 3,400 crore.


Net interest income (NII) for the quarter rose 21 per cent YoY to Rs 9,384 crore, the private lender said in a BSE filing. Net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter came in at 3.6 per cent, up 14 basis points YoY.Fee income for the quarter jumped 34 per cent YoY to Rs 3,576 crore. Retail fees climbed 43 per cent YoY and constituted 66 per cent of the bank’s total fee income.


The bank said it made specific loan loss provisions worth Rs 777 crore compared with Rs 602 crore in the March quarter. The bank, Axis Bank said, has not utilised Covid provisions during the quarter.


Overall, the private lender held cumulative provisions of Rs 11,830 crore at the end of the June quarter. It is pertinent to note that this is over and above the NPA provisioning included in our PCR calculations. These cumulative provisions translate to a standard asset coverage of 1.70 per cent as on 30 June, 2022. On an aggregated basis, our provision coverage ratio stands at 134 per cent of GNPA," the bank said.


The Gross NPA ratio for the quarter stood at 2.76 per cent compared with 2.82 per cent in the March quarter. Credit cost for the quarter stood at 0.41 per cent, down 129 basis points YoY.


The bank said it issued 9.9 lakh credit cards in June quarter, which is incremental share of 17 per cent for the last six months.


Credit card spends were up 96 per cent YoY for the quarter. The bank said it was the second largest player in merchant acquiring with market share of 17 per cent, accounting for the incremental share of 30 per cent for last three months.


MD & CEO Amitabh Chaudhry said, “As an institution, we continue to make good progress despite the macroeconomic headwinds that pose a challenge at multiple levels, both domestically and to the larger global economy."


The bank said its balance sheet was up 14 per cent YoY at Rs 11,52,580 crores as of 30th June 2022. Total deposits grew 14 per cent YoY on a quarterly average balance (QAB) basis and 13 per cent YoY on a period-end basis.


The lender's advances rose 14 per cent YoY to Rs 7,01,130 crore. The bank’s loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 87 per cent. Retail loans grew 25 per cent YoY to Rs 4,12,683 crore and accounted for 59 per cent of the net advances of the bank. The share of secured retail loans was 79 per cent, with home loans comprising 35 per cent of the retail book. Home loans grew 18 per cent YoY, small business banking 74 per cent YoY and the rural loan portfolio grew 42 per cent YoY.


Unsecured personal loans rose 20 per cent YoY. Credit Card advances jumped 42 per cent YoY. "SME book that remains well diversified across geographies and sectors grew 27% YOY to Rs 71,972 crore. The corporate loan book stood at Rs 2,16,475 crore.


Share:

Six Indian banks sue GVK for Rs 12,114 crore: Report


Six Indian banks are reportedly suing the GVK Group for $1.5 billion or Rs 12,114 crore, according to the Times of India. The six banks include Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank , Icici Bank , Indian Overseas Bank, and Axis Bank.


According to the report, GVK defaulted on a $1-billion loan and a $35-million letter of credit facility given by banks in 2011, and a $160-million loan lent in 2014.


GVK Coal Developers (Singapore) and nine other GVK Group companies are being sued in the case which opens Monday.


As per the banks, GVK failed to make repayments as they fell due and failed to obtain a mining lease in the Alpha project in Queensland, Australia by December 31, 2012, which was a project milestone that had to be satisfied. The banks reportedly asked GVK in November 2020 to cancel the agreement and requested repayment. But neither GVK nor its guarantors has paid any of the sums owed, the banks claimed.


On the other hand, GVK argued that "the loans was to provide part funding for the acquisition of the Hancock companies in Australia to develop their assets — including the Alpha project — into working coal mines".


“The deterioration in the market for coal, the lack of third-party investment, legal challenges to the mining projects in the courts of Queensland, meant that very little progress was made to develop the mining assets,” GVK states. GVK states it could not obtain the mining lease owing to litigation by environmental groups but denies this was a “default”.

Share:

Axis Bank Q2 results: Lender posts highest ever quarterly profit, up 86% YoY

Axis Bank on Tuesday reported an 86 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit at Rs 3,133 crore for the September quarter compared with Rs 1,683 crore in the same quarter last year. This was the highest ever quarterly profit for the bank, the lender said in a BSE filing.


Net interest income (NII) for the bank rose 8 per cent YoY to Rs 7,900 crore compared with Rs 7,326 crore in the year-ago quarter. Net interest margin (NIM) for the recently concluded quarter came in at 3.39 per cent.


Specific loan loss provisions for the September quarter stood at Rs 927 crore compared with Rs 2,865 crore in the June quarter and Rs 724 crore in the year-ago quarter. Total Provisions & contingencies for the quarter fell to Rs 1,735 crore from Rs 3,302 crore in the preceding quarter and Rs 4,343 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.


Gross NPA ratio fell to the lowest level in 20 quarters to 3.53 per cent for the July-September period. The figure stood at 3.85 per cent in the June quarter and 4.28 per cent in the year-ago quarter.


Gross slippages for the said quarter came in at Rs 5,464 crore, lower than Rs 6,518 crore in the June 2021 quarter but higher than Rs 1,751 crore (as per IRAC norms) in the same quarter last year.


"Slippages in Q2FY21 moderated due to regulatory forbearances that do not exist in the current quarter. Recoveries and upgrades from NPAs during the quarter were Rs 4,757 crore while write-offs were Rs 2,508 crore. Consequently, there were net slippages in NPAs (before write-offs) for the quarter of Rs 707 crore compared to Rs 3,976 crore in Q1FY22. Net slippages in NPAs (before write-offs) for retail loans stood at Rs 697 crore, and for SME there was a Rs 16 crore decrease in NPAs (before write-offs)," the bank said.


Fee income for the quarter rose 17 per cent YoY to Rs 3,231 crore. Retail fees jumped 19 per cent YoY and

constituted 63 per cent of the bank’s total fee income. The corporate & commercial banking fee grew 15 per cent, the bank said.


"The trading profits and miscellaneous income for the quarter stood at Rs 473 crore and Rs 95 crore, respectively. Overall, the non-interest income (comprising of fee, trading profit and miscellaneous income) for Q2FY22 stood at Rs 3,798 crore, up 6 per cent YoY," the bank said.


The bank’s provision coverage, as a proportion of Gross NPAs, stood at 70 per cent against 77 per cent as of September 2020 and 70 per cent as of June 30. Provisions prior to technical write-offs remained stable at 88 per cent.

Share:

Axis Bank Q1 Results: Profit jumps 94%

 


Axis Bank, country's third largest private sector lender, posted a standalone profit of Rs 2,160.15 crore for the quarter ended June 2021 (Q1FY22), thereby rising 94.2 percent year-on-year (YoY) due to low base.The standalone profit in Q1FY21 at Rs 1,112.17 crore was impacted by the higher provisions due to nationwide lockdown to control COVID spread.


Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 11.1 percent to Rs 7,760.27 crore in Q1FY22, from Rs 6,985.31 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.


"The balance sheet grew 14 percent YoY and stood at Rs 10,12,050 crore as on June 2021. The total deposits grew by 16 percent on period end basis and by 11 percent YoY on quarterly average balance (QAB) basis," said Axis Bank, adding advances grew 12 percent YoY to Rs 6,14,874 crore as on June 2021.


The bank further said retail loans grew 14 percent YoY and were largely flat on a sequential basis to Rs 3,31,242 crore and accounted for 54 percent of the net advances. The share of secured loans was around 80 percent, with home loans comprising 37 percent of the retail book, it added.


Provisions and contingencies remained elevated at Rs 3,532.01 crore in Q1FY22, higher by 7.2 percent compared to Rs 3,294.98 crore in Q4FY21, but have fallen 20 percent compared to Rs 4,416.42 crore in Q1FY21, the period which impacted by COVID-led lockdown.The bank has not utilised COVID provisions during the quarter. It holds cumulative provisions (standard + additional other than NPA) of Rs 12,425 crore at the end of Q1FY22.


Asset quality weakened for the June 2021 quarter. The gross non-performing assets as a percentage of gross advances increased 15 bps sequentially to 3.85 percent and net NPA as a percentage of net advances rose 15 bps QoQ to 1.20 percent in Q1.Gross slippages during the quarter were Rs 6,518 crore, which were higher than Rs 5,285 crore logged during Q4FY21 and Rs 2,218 crore in Q1FY21.


"Slippages in Q1FY21 were moderated due to regulatory forbearances that do not exist in the current quarter. Recoveries and upgrades from NPAs during the quarter were Rs 2,543 crore while write-offs were Rs 3,341 crore. Consequently, there were net slippages in NPAs (before write-offs) for the quarter of Rs 3,976 crore," said Axis Bank.


As of June 2021, the bank's provision coverage, as a proportion of gross NPAs at 70 percent was lower compared to 72 percent as of March 2021.


"The standard restructured loans under resolution framework for COVID-19 related stress as of June 2021 stood at Rs 2,192 crore that translates to 0.33 percent of the gross customer assets. The bank carries a provision of around 23 percent on restructured loans, which is in excess of regulatory limits," said Axis Bank.


Non-interest income (other income) grew by 38.7 percent YoY to Rs 3,588.17 crore in Q1FY22 as the fee income increased 62 percent YoY to Rs 2,668 crore.Pre-provision operating profit at Rs 6,416.04 crore during the quarter ended June 2021 increased by 9.8 percent compared to year-ago period.

Share:

Axis Bank Q3 results: Net profit drops 36% , NII rises 14%

 


Axis Bank on Wednesday reported a 36% year-on-year drop in net profit to Rs.1,116.6 crore for the quarter ended 31 December. The private lender reported a net profit of Rs.1,757 crore for the corresponding quarter last year.

"Reported profits after tax for the quarter are adversely impacted to the extent of around Rs.1,050 crore on account of prudent expenses and provisioning charges during the quarter," the bank said.

The bank’s operating profit for the quarter grew 6% year-on-year to Rs.6,096 crore. The core operating profit for the quarter grew 10% year-on-year to Rs.5,754 crores.

The private lender's net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest, rose 14% year-on-year to Rs.7,372.7 crore. NII in Q3FY20 was at Rs.6,452.98 crore. NII before interest reversals increased 19% YOY to Rs.7,987 crore, the bank said in the filing. Net interest margin (NIM) for Q3FY21 was 3.59% as against 3.57% for Q3FY20. NIM before interest reversals stood at 3.89%, the bank added.

Provisions in the quarter under review increased 32.7% year-on-year to Rs.4,604.28 crore, the bank said in the filing.

In the December quarter, the bank reported gross NPA and net NPA at 3.44% and 0.74% respectively as against 4.18% and 0.98% during the September quarter. The restructured loans as at 31st December, 2020 stood at Rs.2,709 crore that translates to 0.42% of the gross customer assets, the bank said.

Commenting on the bank's performance in Q3, Amitabh Chaudhry, MD&CEO, Axis Bank said, “As the economy turns around, we see fresh enthusiasm and positivity returning to both retail and corporate business. Digital has been one of our biggest strengths and we have fortified it further. With new collaborations with the best brands in their respective fields, we have rolled out some of the most innovative products and services for our customers, with unique features and benefits."

Loan book (including TLTRO investments) grew by 9% year-on-year to Rs.600,835 crore while retail disbursements in Q3FY21 stood at all-time highs, the lender said. Corporate loans (including TLTRO investments) reported 11% year-on-year increase, the lender said.

Axis Bank’s balance sheet improved 15% YOY and to Rs.9,38,049 crore as on 31st December 2020. The total deposits grew by 11% on period end basis and by 8% YOY on quarterly average balance (QAB) basis. On a QAB basis, savings account deposits jumped 14% YOY, retail savings deposits increased 20% YOY, current Account deposits rose 15% YOY and retail term deposits grew 17% YOY. CASA and Retail Term Deposits on QAB basis put together increased 16%YOY, the lender said.

Last week, the Competition Commission of India approved the acquisition of 19.002% stake in Max Life Insurance Company by Axis Bank and its subsidiaries (Axis Capital and Axis Securities), after revised agreements signed by all entities in October last year.

Share:

WhatsApp Pay goes live in India with four banks


WhatsApp Pay on Wednesday announced it is now live with State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank for its up to 20 million users in India. After two years of waiting, Facebook-owned WhatsApp payment service received approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in November to go live on Unified Payment Interface (UPI) with over 160 supported banks.

WhatsApp can expand its UPI user base in a graded manner starting with a maximum registered user base of 20 million. "UPI is a transformative service and we jointly have the opportunity to bring the benefits of our digital economy and financial inclusion to a large number of users who have not had full access to them before," Abhijit Bose, Head of WhatsApp, India, said during the Facebook 'Fuel for India' virtual event.

The peer-to-peer (P2P) payment feature is available now in 10 Indian regional language versions of WhatsApp.

"We introduced banking services on WhatsApp in April. Over two million users have adopted banking services on WhatsApp in this short span. Now with WhatsApp Payments, there is a unique opportunity to scale essential financial services to people all over the country with ease," said Bijith Bhaskar, Head - Digital Channels & Partnership, ICICI Bank.

According to a latest report by Bengaluru-based research firm RedSeer, digital payments in India are expected to reach $94 trillion by the financial year 2025.

"We're excited and privileged to partner with State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and AXIS Bank to bring simple and secure digital payments to WhatsApp users across India," Bose said in a statement.

SBI now offers UPI services through the WhatsApp Payments, bringing the convenience of easy and instant mobile based payments.

Parag Rao, Country Head-Payments Business, Consumer Finance, Digital Banking & Marketing, HDFC Bank said that the partnership with WhatsApp Pay is yet another important step toward achieving financial inclusion and making affordable financial services available to Indians.

"Such partnerships will further fuel the economic growth and development of the nation," Rao added.

WhatsApp had said earlier that the payments feature is designed with a strong set of security and privacy principles, including entering a personal UPI PIN for each payment.

In India, the WhatsApp payment service competes against major players like Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe, among others.

Share:

  Useful links for Bankers
   * Latest DA Updates
   * How to recover Bad loans/NPA Acs
   * Latest 12th BPS Updates
   * Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
   * Tips while taking charge as Manager
   * Software used by Banks in India
   * Finacle Menus, Shortcuts & Commands
   * Balance Inquiry Number of all Banks
   * PSU & Private Banks Quarterly result
   * Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *