Ashwani Kumar, MD & CEO, UCO Bank
| Photo Credit:
DEBASISH BHADURI

State-run lender UCO Bank on Monday reported around 24 per cent year-on-year growth in its net profit to ₹652.43 crore for the fourth quarter last fiscal, backed by over 30 per cent y-o-y increase in its operating profit during the period.

The Kolkata-based bank had registered ₹525.77 crore net profit for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2023-24. The bank’s board has approved raising around ₹2,700 crore capital at face value through various modes like qualified institutional placement (QIP) and follow-on public offering (FPO) this fiscal to bring down government’s stake in it to below 75 per cent from the current 90.95 per cent.

The lender’s operating profit for the fourth quarter of FY25 grew 33.46 per cent y-o-y to ₹1,698.77 crore from ₹1,272.87 crore for the corresponding period of FY24, it said in a stock exchange filing. Net Interest Income (NII) for the quarter under review grew 23.37 per cent y-o-y at ₹2,698.49 crore, whereas non-interest income posted a growth of 23.76 per cent y-o-y at ₹1,392.20 crore.

For the fourth quarter last fiscal, global net interest margin (NIM) stood at 3 per cent compared to 3.03 per cent for the corresponding period previous fiscal.

“The bank’s growth in advances and its focus on containing the cost of funds contributed to the profit growth. We have worked on our yield on advances apart from the growth in advances. And also, we have focussed on containing cost of deposits by forcing not excessive reliance on the bulk deposits,” UCO Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ashwani Kumar said after declaring the Q4FY25 results.

Advances up

During the fourth quarter of last fiscal, the bank’s gross advances increased by 17.72 per cent y-o-y, while total deposits rose by 11.56 per cent.

Kumar said the bank’s target for growth in advances is around 12-14 per cent for this fiscal, while deposits growth is expected to be around 10-12 per cent. Its guidance for global NIM is 3-3.10 per cent in FY26.

The lender’s asset quality improved during the period. Gross NPA ratio fell 77 basis points y-o-y to 2.69 per cent in the fourth quarter, whereas net NPA ratio fell 39 bps y-o-y to 0.50 per cent during the period.

In March this year, UCO Bank raised around ₹2,000 crore from the market through QIP, which resulted in reduction of government holding in the bank to 90.95 per cent from 95.39 per cent in December last year.

“Current year our board has recommended for approval to the AGM to issuing of 270 crore equity shares of face value of ₹10. If we are able to raise the capital at the opportune time, government holding in our bank would come down to below 75 per cent,” Kumar added.

Published on April 28, 2025

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