Axis Bank's June quarter profit seen at ₹1,855 crore

Mumbai: Private-sector lender Axis Bank is expected to report a net profit of ₹1,855 crore for the June quarter of FY20 compared with a net profit of ₹701.09 crore in the year-ago period, according to a consensus estimate of 23 analysts polled by Bloomberg.

In April-June last fiscal, the bank’s net profit had slumped 46.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) due to higher provisions and lower other income.

Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities expect loan growth of 13% y-o-y with greater focus on retail, and net interest margin (NIM) at 3.5%. The brokerage said Axis Bank is likely to post fresh slippages of ₹2,500 crore (2% of its loans) mostly from below investment grade book and expects more traction on recovery as well from the write-off pool., with no major concerns on asset quality.

Stock broking firm Prabhudas Lilladher said in a report that Axis Bank’s Q1 FY20 net interest income (NII) – the difference between interest earned and expended – will be at ₹5,924 crore, up 14.7% from the same period last year. Its pre-provisioning operating profit is likely to be at ₹5,343 crore, up 6.6% on a year-on-year basis.

Meanwhile, Reliance Securities believes fee income of the bank will gain traction and its margins will remain stable in the June quarter. Moreover, increased focus on retail term deposits will limit its NIM expansion in the interim, it said.

Axis Bank