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Mumbai: State-owned Bank of India reported a standalone profit after tax of Rs 250 crore for March quarter 2020-21 as bad loans shrunk. The lender had incurred a standalone loss of Rs 3,571 crore in the year-ago period.

For the financial year 2020-21, net profit stood at Rs 2,160 crore as against a net loss of Rs 2,957 crore in the previous year.

“During the year, the gross and net non-performing assets (NPAs) showed improvement both in quantum and percentage,” the bank’s managing director and CEO A K Das told reporters.

Gross NPA ratio improved to 13.77% from 14.78%. Net NPAs stood at 3.35% as against 3.88%.

“By March 2022, we will aim to bring down our GNPA ratio by 2-2.5 percentage points to around 12%,” he said.

Net interest income (NII) declined 22.60% to Rs 2,936 crore in the quarter as against Rs 3,793 crore in the year-ago period. Domestic net interest margins (NIM) declined to 2.16% from 3.18%.

Das attributed the lower NIM to a fall in yield on advances, which was more than the fall in the bank’s cost of deposits, and to muted growth in domestic advances. He expects NIM to improve to 2.5% in 2021-22. The bank’s recovery during the fourth quarter was Rs 975 crore and upgradation at Rs 109 crore. Fresh slippages were to the tune of Rs 7,368 crore in the quarter under review.

Provision coverage ratio improved to 86.24% from 83.74% a year ago. Total provisions declined 70.37% to Rs 1,844 crore in the quarter under review. Provisions on bad loans also fell 58% to Rs 3,089 crore. The Capital Adequacy Ratio improved to 14.93% in March 2021 from 13.10% in March 2020. The common equity tier (CET-1) ratio stood at 11.51%.

The lender’s domestic advances grew 1.31% to Rs 3,62,361 crore and deposits rose 14.22% to Rs 5,51,135 crore. The bank expects 5-6% credit growth in 2021-22, Das said. Bank of India stock on Friday closed at Rs 82.30, up 2.62% on BSE.