DBS India back in black, posts Rs 14.5 cr net profit in FY19

Singaporean lender DBS on Thursday announced that it has come back into the black in fiscal year 2018-19, reporting a Rs 14.5 crore net profit as against a loss of Rs 533 crore in the year-ago period. The bank is among the first to convert itself into a subsidiary in March 2019 and the largest wholly-owned subsidiary among the foreign banks in the country.

Its net advances grew "marginal" 1.38 per cent during the fiscal year to Rs 18,108 crore, while the gross non performing assets ratio reduced to 3.13 per cent as of March 2019 from 5.04 per cent. "The reduction of gross and net NPAs was mainly due to focused strategy adopted by the management to address stress assets," it said in the statement It can be noted that certain bets on infrastructure and small businesses had backfired, leading to the losses and also the parent to infuse fresh capital.

It infused capital in December 2018 as well at Rs 1,300 crore. The new provision coverage ratio stands at 92 per cent as against 82 per cent in the year-ago period. The capital adequacy ratio stood at 19.69 per cent.

"Over the previous financial year, we have strengthened our balance sheet and improved asset quality," Surojit Shome, the chief executive of DBS Bank India, the WOS, was quoted as saying. The bank said the results include eleven months of operating as a branch and one month of operating as a WOS, and also expenses incurred in the transition to the new model.

The bank statement said institutional banking and consumer banking segments fuelled the credit growth during the fiscal, while there was a whopping 93.82 per cent increase in the low cost current and saving account balances taking the CASA ratio to 18.24 per cent. "We have focused our efforts towards growing our franchise in India through the establishment of the wholly owned subsidiary with the aim to build on the momentum to achieve greater scale in India," Shome said.

Going forward, DBIL intends to "accelerate" its growth plans, expand its operations through a 'phygital' model to serve large corporates, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and individual customers, it said. It intends to establish over 100 customer touch points a combination of branches and e-kiosks across 25 cities in the next 12-18 months, the statement said.

It opened nine new branches in March, which included five in rural unbanked areas..