MUMBAI: Higher provisions for bad loans and lower earnings from banking business led to Bank of India reporting Rs 3969 crore loss in the fourth quarter ending March 2018 as against Rs 1048 crore loss in fourth quarter a year ago.
“Bad loans have peaks so the year March 2019 will be a good year for banks,” said Dinabandhu Mohapatra, CEO of Bank of India. “I am very hopeful about the recoveries considering the way NCLT accounts are being resolved,” he added.
The bank has reported losses mainly because of Rs 5107 crore loan had to be classified as bad loan following RBI's decision to scrap all debt restructuring schemes. However at the same time, the bank made all time high recoveries of Rs 11417 crore in the fourth quarter, a majority of it being on account of standby letter credit that were issued by other banks invoked.
The provision coverage ratio (PCR) of the bank also improved 65.8% from 56.9% a year ago while the net of bad loan lowered to 8.2% from 10.25 a year ago. “With 66% PCR we have secured our future. Now we would be prepared for haircuts for accounts that are referred to bankruptcy court,” he said.
The earnings of fourth quarter also suffered since the net interest income fell 26% to Rs 2564 crore while non interest income fell 21% at Rs 1375 crore.
For the full year, the bank reported losses of rs 6044 crore against losses Rs 1558 crore a year ago. As a turnaround strategy, Mohapatra said that the bank plans to rationalise overseas branches, closing down 290 loss making ATMs, selling real estate to raise rs 1000 crore and focusing on retail loans.
The bank is facing restrictions on banking business after the Reserve Bank of India imposed prompt corrective action (PCA) on the bank. It plans to low net of bad loan below 6% this fiscal year with the aim to come out of PCA.
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