On April 27, Axis Bank, a private sector lender, reported a standalone loss of Rs 5,728.42 crore for the March quarter of FY23, which was attributed to the buying cost of Citi Bank’s India consumer business. However, if exceptional items were excluded, the profit for the quarter would have been Rs 6,625.29 crore, showing a significant growth of 61 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
During the March FY23 quarter, Axis Bank reported an exceptional item of Rs 12,489.82 crore, which represented the cost of acquiring Citibank’s India consumer business assets and liabilities, including the NBFC consumer business. This exceptional cost also included one-time stamp duty costs of Rs 179.27 crore related to the acquisition and Rs 361.47 crore towards harmonization of provisioning and expense policies.
Despite the loss, the bank reported a year-on-year growth of 33.1 percent in net interest income to Rs 11,742.2 crore for the quarter, with net interest margin improving by 73 basis points to 4.22 percent in Q4FY23. Moreover, total deposits grew by 15 percent YoY and 12 percent QoQ to Rs 9.46 lakh crore, while advances increased by 19 percent YoY and 11 percent QoQ to Rs 8.45 lakh crore.
Axis Bank’s provisions and contingencies fell 69 percent YoY to Rs 305.77 crore in Q4FY23, contributing to the bank’s profitability. The gross NPAs as a percentage of gross advances fell 36 basis points QoQ to 2.02 percent, and net NPA decreased by 8 basis points sequentially to 0.39 percent for the March FY23 quarter.
For the financial year 2022-23, the bank reported a decline of 26.5 percent in profit to Rs 9,580 crore, but this figure excluded the Citibank transaction. The net interest income grew by 30 percent to Rs 42,946 crore compared to the previous year.
The bank has received approval from the board of directors to raise funds up to Rs 35,000 crore via the issue of debt instruments, and the board has recommended a final dividend of Re 1 per share for the financial year 2022-23.