RBL Bank Q1 earnings: Its net profit rose 40.52% compared to the corresponding period a year ago

RBL Bank on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 267.05 crore for the April-June period. That marked a rise of 40.52 per cent from its net profit of Rs 190.04 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. In a regulatory filing, the private sector bank reported a total income of Rs 2,503.88 crore, marking an increase of 11.61 per cent on a year-on-year basis. RBL Bank shares slumped nearly 14 per cent during the session.

Its interest income increased to Rs 2,022.67 crore in the quarter ended June 30, from Rs 1,364.22 crore in the corresponding three-month period a year ago. The interest income increased 48.27 per cent.

RBL Bank said its net interest margin (NIM) improved to 4.31 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year, from 4.04 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago. Net interest margin or NIM is a key indicator of a bank's profitability.

The private sector bank's net interest income (NII) - the difference between interest earned and interest paid - rose 47.87 per cent to 817.3 crore in the June quarter.

“The Bank has had a good quarter of strong performance and has continued to maintain its growth momentum and improvement in operating metrics. However, given the difficult environment we do expect to face some challenges on some of our exposures in the near term," said Vishwavir Ahuja, managing director and CEO, RBL Bank.

"At the same time, given the strong momentum in our businesses, we do expect to

maintain a healthy profitable growth over the coming quarters."

RBL Bank's gross non-performing assets as a percentage of total advances remained steady at 1.38 per cent compared with the previous quarter.

Net non-performing assets, however, came down to 0.65 per cent, from 0.69 per cent in the quarter ended March 31, according to its regulatory filing.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the RBL Bank stock plunged to as much as Rs 500.10 apiece during the session, marking a decline of 13.75 per cent from its previous close of Rs 579.85.

At 2:59 pm, RBL Bank shares traded 13.43 per cent lower at Rs 502.00 apiece on the BSE, underperforming the benchmark Sensex index, which was down 1.27 per cent amid a broad-based selloff.