The bank has projected the fourth quarter net profit at Rs 140-160 crore, with the help of lower credit cost.
Meanwhile, it said it is updating the application for the universal bank licence and will resubmit it at an appropriate time. The Reserve Bank of India returned the application in October citing some deficiencies.
“The worst is behind us. The third quarter saw the bottoming out of all our problems,” Kanwal told ET.
The bank projected credit cost at Rs 170-190 crore in the fourth quarter.
It has set aside Rs 277 crore as bad loan provisions for the third quarter as compared with Rs 174 crore earlier, leading to the sharp drop in net profit.
High operating expenses at Rs 633 crore against Rs 491 crore on account of spending towards customer acquisition and stressed loan recovery offset the rise in operating income at Rs 920 crore against Rs 770 crore.Operating profit stood a tad higher at Rs 289 crore vs Rs 279 crore.
The bank’s gross non-performing assets ratio declined to 2.59% at the end of December from 2.80R a year back.
Kanwal said loan disbursement has been back on track. Its gross loan portfolio grew 19% year-on-year to Rs 33,324 crore, with secured assets growing 27% and unsecured loans growing 2%.