State-owned UCO Bank on Tuesday posted over four-fold jump in its net profit to Rs 101.81 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, as bad loans fell significantly. The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 21.46 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. Sequentially, the net profit rose 27 percent from Rs 80.03 crore in the March 2021 quarter.

The total income during Q1 FY22 increased to Rs 4,539.08 crore, against Rs 4,436.57 crore in Q1 FY21, UCO Bank said in a regulatory filing. However, it was down from Rs 4,936.75 crore in the preceding March quarter.

Interest income during the quarter fell 2.5 percent to Rs 3,569.57 crore, while income from other sources rose 25.3 percent to Rs 969.51 crore. The Kolkata-headquartered lender trimmed its gross non-performing assets (NPAs or bad loans) significantly to 9.37 percent of the gross advances as of June 30, 2021, as against 14.38 percent at June-end 2020.

In value terms, the gross NPAs fell to Rs 11,321.76 crore from Rs 16,576.43 crore. Net NPAs were down at 3.85 percent (Rs 4,387.25 crore) from 4.95 percent (Rs 5,138.18 crore).

The bank's provisions for bad loans and contingencies were, however, up at Rs 1,127.11 crore in the reported quarter from Rs 931.67 crore in the year-ago period. Of this, the provisions for NPAs stood at Rs 844.76 crore, up from Rs 564.78 crore.

Further, UCO Bank said it has kept the account of Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) as standard, as per the Supreme Court order and RBI guidelines. The bank said it has not treated an amount of Rs 194.14 crore towards DAMEPL as NPA. As required, the provision held against this outstanding is Rs 100.95 crore, it noted.

Also, for accounts covered under the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the bank is holding a 100 percent provision (including technical write-off) against a total outstanding of Rs 4,730.28 crore as of June 30, 2021, it added. Besides, outstanding worth Rs 278.17 crore stands as restructured advances as of June 30, 2021, relating to a total of 1,724 MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector accounts.

Among others, the bank said it has exposure with two borrower's accounts belonging to the same group, and as per the NCLT Kolkata order, it has not declared these accounts as NPAs. "Bank has filed an appeal against the order of NCLT, Kolkata Bench," it added. On the COVID-19 induced moratorium related refund of interest on interest (or compound interest), UCO Bank said it has created a provision of Rs 35.35 crore as of March 31, 2021, towards interest relief.

The same is yet to be refunded or adjusted, it added. The total COVID-19 related provisions held by the lender is Rs 500 crore.

UCO Bank also reported nine borrowal accounts as fraud during the quarter, involving a total amount of Rs 429.21 crore. "During the current quarter, the bank has appropriated its entire accumulated losses of Rs 12,657.03 crore as of March 31, 2021, by utilising the balance standing to the credit of share premium account of the bank," it said.

UCO Bank stock traded 1.48 percent up at Rs 13.75 apiece on BSE.