Federal Bank Ltd has reported a 21 per cent year-on-year (YoY) fall in its net profit for January-March due to higher provisioning. The bank posted a net profit of Rs 301.23 crore for the quarter ended March, down from Rs 381.51 crore in the year-ago period. Profit was lower than Rs 380.20 crore estimated by a Bloomberg poll of 12 analysts.

Provisions during the quarter rose more than three times to Rs 567.50 crore from Rs 177.76 crore in the year-ago quarter. In October-December, the bank had set aside Rs 160.86 crore in provisions. Net interest income, or the difference between interest earned on loans and that paid on deposits, increased 10.9 per cent to Rs 1,216.01 crore. , which includes core fee income, rose 72.7 per cent to Rs 711.11 crore during the period under Other income review.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs), as a percentage of total advances, were at 2.84 per cent in the March quarter compared with 2.99 per cent in the December quarter and 2.92 per cent in the year-ago quarter. After provisions, net NPA ratio was at 1.31 per cent against 1.63 per cent during October-December and 1.48 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Shares of the bank rose 4.3 per cent to close at Rs 42.75 apiece, while the benchmark Sensex gained 1.9 per cent to close at 32,200.59 points

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