AU Small Finance Bank on Wednesday, October 4, reported a 24 percent year-on-year growth in gross advances in the July-September quarter on strong credit demand.

On a quarterly basis, gross advances grew by 2 percent to Rs 65,029 crore in the second quarter of FY24, compared to Rs 63,635 crore in the previous June quarter. Gross advances stood at Rs 52,452 crore in the second quarter of the last financial year.

The Jaipur-based bank in a stock exchange filing stated that credit demand remained resilient with disbursement sustaining across products.

AU Bank continued to see an uptick in disbursement yields on a quarterly basis, while asset quality also followed the seasonal trend and remained within the range, it said in the quarterly financial update.

The bank’s overall deposits surged by 30 percent to Rs 75,743 crore in the second quarter of FY24, compared to Rs 58,335 crore in the year-ago period.

On a quarterly basis, gross deposits rose by 9 percent from Rs 69,315 crore in the June quarter despite higher competitive intensity for deposit mobilisation, the bank stated.

Its CASA deposits grew by 6 percent QoQ to Rs 65,029 crore in Q2 of FY24 as against Rs 63,635 crore in the June quarter. On a yearly basis, CASA deposits grew by 4 percent from Rs 24,674 crore in Q2 of FY23.

However, the bank saw a 12 basis points uptick to 6.7 percent in average cost of funds (COF) for Q2 of FY24 as against 6.58 percent in Q1FY24. For the first half of FY24, the average COF was at 6.64 percent.

“During Q2’FY24, domestic inflationary pressure was higher, and the monsoon progress remained below historical average for the month of August. This, coupled with global macro, ensured that the interest rates remained elevated, and the systemic liquidity continued to remain tight,” the bank explained in the update.

However, the bank delivered a stable quarter with growth seen across deposits and disbursements, it added.

AU Small Finance Bank shares were trading 1.04 percent lower at Rs 696.45 a piece in early trade on BSE.