South Indian Bank (SIB) on Thursday reported 23 percent decline in net profit at Rs 65.09 crore for the September quarter of the current fiscal year. The lender had posted a net profit of Rs 84.48 crore in July-September 2019-20. In the previous June quarter, SIB had a profit of Rs 81.65 crore.

Total income of the bank also fell to Rs 2,138.74 crore in the second quarter of 2020-21 from Rs 2,203.18 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year, SIB said in a regulatory filing. Interest income decreased to Rs 1,898.84 crore as against Rs 1,953.97 crore in the year-ago quarter, it said.

Bank's asset quality showed little improvement with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) falling to 4.87 percent of gross advances as on September 30, 2020 as against 4.92 percent by September 2019. However, in value terms, gross NPAs or bad loans were worth Rs 3,182.16 crore, higher than Rs 3,145.20 crore at September-end last year. Net NPAs were much better at 2.59 percent (Rs 1,655.39 crore) as against 3.48 percent (Rs 2,193.15 crore).

Provisions for bad loans and contingencies went up at Rs 326.40 crore for the period under review as against Rs 306.34 crore parked aside for the year-ago quarter.

ln view of the continuing uncertainties in the global and Indian economy consequent to the COVID-19 pandemic, the extent of impact on the bank's operations and financial position remains highly uncertain and would depend on several factors including the steps taken by governments, RBI and the bank to mitigate the same, SIB said. SIB stock closed 1.46 percent down at Rs 6.77 on BSE.