Bank of India eyes net profits in second quarter

Kolkata: Bank of India (BoI), which had been reporting losses for last two consecutive fiscals, expects to return to black in the second quarter of current fiscal.

"Our operating profit is very robust and net interest income is strong. But we had been making losses as were making higher provisioning for NPAs. We hope to make net profits in the second quarter of current fiscal", MD and CEO of BoI D B Mohapatra told reporters here today.

He said that the bank had been provisioning to the extent of 60 per cent for which it was making losses. "But this will give us an edge when the bad accounts start becoming better".

The gross NPA of the bank was more than 13 per cent and net NPA at 6.9 per cent.

As per RBI norms, the bank was supposed to be under threshold one of prompt and corrective action (PCA).

"We have not been under PCA since our operating profit is very good and losses had been reduced from Rs 6000 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 1500 crore in 2016-17," he said.

Out of 12-odd accounts identified by RBI for reference to NCLT for resolutions, BoI was a part of the consortium of four such accounts. "None of the four has been referred to the NCLT so far", he said.

Mohapatra said that the bank has been able to save by way of capital optimisation to the tune of Rs 600 crore in the last fiscal. "This has helped us in reducing capital consumption", he said.

BoI has been also making sector-wise one time settlements (OTS) for NPA accounts.

The turnaround plan also included rationalisation of branches, he said.