New Delhi: Private sector lender Yes Bank today reported a rise of 29 per cent in standalone net profit at Rs 1,179.44 crore in the March quarter, 2017-18.

The bank had logged a net profit of Rs 914.12 crore during January-March of 2016-17. Total income grew 27.8 per cent to Rs 7,163.95 crore as against Rs 5,606.38 crore in the same quarter of 2016-17, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

The net interest income was up 31.4 per cent at Rs 2,154.20 crore and non-interest income increased 13 per cent to Rs 1,421 crore during the reported quarter.

The net interest margin - a gauge of profitability -stood at 3.4 per cent in March quarter, down from 3.6 per cent in the year-ago period. On yearly basis, the net profit (consolidated) of the bank was up 26.7 per cent to Rs 4,233.22 crore in 2017-18 as against Rs 3,339.89 crore in 2016-17.

Total income (consolidated) during the year grew to Rs 25,561.75 crore from Rs 20,642.80 crore in 2016-17. The bank's board at a meeting today recommended a dividend of Rs 2.70 per share or 135 per cent per share for the year ended March 31, 2018, subject to approval of shareholders.

On asset front, the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank were lowered to 1.28 per cent of the gross advances as on March 31, 2018 from 1.52 per cent at the end of 2016-17.

In absolute terms, gross NPAs or bad loans stood at Rs 2,626.80 crore by end of March 2018 as against Rs 2,016.80 crore by the end of the preceding year.

Net NPAs were 0.64 per cent of the net advances (Rs 1,312.75 crore), down from 0.81 per cent (Rs 1,072.27 crore) at the end of March 2017. The board of directors also approved raising funds up to Rs 30,000 crore in rupee or foreign currency in one or more tranches by issuing bonds both in domestic or overseas markets.

The board also approved a proposal to raise up to USD 1 billion in one or more tranches by way of issuance of equity capital, subject to approval of shareholders.

On NPA divergence for 2016-17, there was a difference of Rs 6,355.20 crore in gross NPA divergence as the bank reported it at Rs 2,018.60 crore against RBI's assessment of Rs 8,373.80 crore.

Net NPA divergence was of Rs 4,819.40 crore with the bank reporting Rs 1,072.30 crore and the RBI assessing it at Rs 5,891.60 crore. Thus the adjusted net profit for the year ended March 31, 2017 was put at Rs 2,316.10 crore from its earlier reported figure of Rs 3,330.10 crore.

The private sector lender said its exposure to the gems and jewellery sector was 1.4 per cent as on March 31, 2018, down from 1.6 per cent as on December 31, 2017.

For iron and steel sector it remained static at 2 per cent, for telecom it came down to 2.2 per cent (March 2018) from 2.3 per cent (December 2017) while for non-renewable electricity generation it stood at 2.7 per cent from 3.4 per cent.

Overall sequentially, there was a fall in exposure to sensitive sectors at 8.3 per cent by end of March 2018 from 9.3 per cent at December-end 2017.

Stock of Yes Bank closed at Rs 352.05, up 8.26 per cent on BSE.