India's Kotak bank reports 26% jump in Q1 profit, beats estimates

MUMBAI: India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank reported on Saturday a jump in first-quarter profit that beat estimates, supported by strong loan growth and lower provisions for potential bad loans.

The country’s fourth-largest private lender’s standalone net profit rose 26% to 41.23 billion rupees ($428.23 million) for the quarter ended June 30 from last year. Analysts had expected a profit of 37.37 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The results come after CEO Ashok Vaswani said in June he would step down at the end of his term in December. The bank is in the midst of finding his replacement.

Indian banks have seen a pickup in loan growth since April, with demand for personal credit and loans against gold rising. Small businesses have also stepped up borrowing, in part backed by government default guarantees made available amid disruptions caused by the Iran war.

India’s Federal Bank flags 1.5-2% of net worth hit from new RBI norms

Earlier in the day, Indian private lender Axis Bank posted a higher-than-expected profit for the first quarter as core interest income improved and provisions fell.

Kotak Mahindra Bank’s net advances expanded 15% in the reporting quarter from a year earlier, mainly driven by retail and corporate loans. Total deposits rose 12%.

Kotak’s net interest income — the difference between interest earned on loans and interest paid on deposits — rose 9% ​to 79.28 billion rupees.

Provisions and contingencies rose 30% quarter-on-quarter but fell 42% year-on-year to 7.64 billion rupees.

The lender’s gross non-performing asset ratio fell to 1.18% at the end of June, from 1.2% in the year-ago quarter.