Net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter declined to 6.1% in Q4 FY23 as against 6.3% in Q4 FY22.

Operating expenses during the quarter jumped 27.4% to Rs 975.35 crore during the period under review.

Pre-provisioning profit in Q4 FY23 was Rs 570.92 crore, up by 18.37% from Rs 482.33 crore in Q4 FY22. Provisions dropped by 56.15% YoY to Rs 40.88 crore.

Profit before tax stood at Rs 530.04 crore in Q4 FY23, registering a growth of 36.2% from Rs 389.11 crore in Q4 FY22.

The bank's deposits grew by 31.91% YoY to Rs 69,365 crore while gross advances increased by 26.4% YoY to Rs 59,158 crore. Cost of funds for Q4 FY23 increased by 32 bps to 6.29%.

The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at Rs 981.31 crore as on 31 March 2023 as against Rs 1,018.86 crore as on 31 December 2022 and Rs 924.38 crore as on 31 March 2022.

The bank's asset quality improved significantly with GNPA at 1.66% as on 31 March 2023 as against 1.98% as on 31 March 2022. Net NPA stood at 0.42% of net advances as of March 2023 as compared to 0.50% posted in March 2022.

Provision coverage ratio (PCR) remained at 75% whereas PCR inclusive of technical write-off is at 78%. Apart from provision of Rs 695 crore against GNPA pool, the bank has, additionally, maintained provision against restructured book at Rs 116 crore (17% of restructured book); contingency provision of Rs 90 crore (0.15% of advances); floating provision of Rs 41 crore (0.07% of advances); standard provisions of Rs 191 crore (0.33% of advances).

The balance sheet size crossed Rs 90,000 crore mark and the net worth of the bank has reached Rs 10,977 crore.

CRAR was at 23.6% and Tier I at 21.8% as on 31 March 2023; CRAR was at 21% and Tier 1 at 19.7% as on 31 March 2022.

AU Small Finance Bank reported 26.4% rise in net profit to Rs 1,427.93 crore on 33.6% jump in total income to Rs 9,239.87 crore in FY23 over FY22.

During the year, the bank opened 108 new touchpoints in FY23, taking the total physical network to 1,027 touchpoints across 21 States and 3 Union Territories.

Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO of AU Small Finance Bank said, “Amidst a difficult market, we have managed to grow our deposit book while keeping our CASA ratio stable and making our deposits more granular and retail. Our asset quality has also improved further this year with net NPA coming down to 0.4 per cent.”

Meanwhile, the board recommended a dividend of Re 1 per equity share for the financial year ended 31 March 2023, subject to approval of shareholders.

AU Small Finance Bank (AU SFB/AU) is a scheduled commercial bank, a Fortune India 500 Company and the largest Small Finance Bank in the country.

The scrip declined 3.59% to Rs 636.30 on the BSE.