Central Bank confident of maintaining NIM in Q4

Central Bank of India (CBI) is hopeful of maintaining its Net Interest Margin (NIM) at the current level of around 2.53 percent in the current quarter, a top bank official said.

“Net interest margin will be the maintained (at the same level of the last quarter). But, the NPA level may not see a dramatic change during the current quarter,” said the official.

During the last quarter (September—December), the gross NPA of the bank rose to 3.69 percent from 2.34 percent a year earlier. Similarly, its net NPA rose to 2.04 percent from 0.71 percent reported a year ago.

However, the official maintained the NPA level would begin to come down from the first quarter of the next fiscal. “The NPA movement will stabilise and start coming down from the first quarter of next financial year.”

The public sector bank posted a 72 per cent drop in its net profit to Rs 113.24 crore in the third quarter against Rs 404 crore a year ago. Its total income grew 21.9 percent to Rs 5,099 crore during the period.