Axis Bank's gross NPAs as a percentage of total loans fell to 6.52% in the April-June quarterAxis Bank posted a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit on Monday as the country's third-biggest private sector lender by assets earned more from interest-bearing assets.Loans grew 14 per cent from a year earlier, driven by retail and small-and-medium enterprise divisions, leading to a 12 per cent rise in net interest income.The bank's gross non-performing loans as a percentage of total loans fell to 6.52 per cent in the quarter from 6.77 per cent in the fourth quarter when the bank reported a huge loss.
However, it rose to 5.03 per cent from the year-ago quarter.A record Rs 10.36 lakh crore of non-performing loans in the country's banking sector at end-March have hobbled lenders largely dependent on corporate clients and have choked new lending to them.While more than 86 per cent of the bad-loan pile is held by the country's state-backed lenders, Axis Bank and its bigger rival ICICI Bank account for the biggest chunk among the private-sector lenders.Axis Bank increased its provisions to Rs 3,338 crore in the quarter, versus Rs 2,342 crore a year-ago to set aside more money to cover bad loans.The bank's net profit for the period ended June 30 fell to Rs 701 crore ($102.14 million) from Rs 1,306 crore a year ago, it said.Analysts had expected a net profit of Rs 556 crore, according to Thomson Reuters.Axis Bank shares closed2.9 per cent higher at Rs 569 apiece on the NSE, ahead of release of its earnings.($1 = Rs 68.63) Thomson Reuters 2018