Indian Bank's Q4 net profit declines 59% to Rs 84 crore

State-owned Indian Bank on Wednesday reported a 59% decline in net profit to Rs 84.49 crore for the March quarter on higher provisioning for bad loans and contingencies.

The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 206.16 crore in the January-March period of the previous fiscal.

"Total income has increased to Rs 4,513.60 crore for the quarter ended March from Rs 4,410.49 crore for the quarter a year ago," the bank said in a regulatory filing.

The bank's provisioning towards bad loans and contingencies rose to Rs 813.58 crore for the fourth quarter (Q4) as against Rs 562.57 crore a year ago.

Asset quality slipped further with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans increasing to 6.66% of gross advances as of March from 4.40% a year ago.

Its net NPAs grew to 4.20% of net advances in the January-March period as against 2.50% in the same quarter last fiscal.

For the entire fiscal, Indian Bank's net profit fell by 29.2% to Rs 711.38 crore as compared to Rs 1,005.17 crore in the preceding fiscal.

The bank's total income for the fiscal increased to Rs 18,025.19 crore as against Rs 17,216.29 crore in 2014-15, the bank said.

The bank has recommended a final dividend of Rs 1.50 per equity share for 2015-16.

On Wednesday, the shares of Indian Bank closed down 4.00% or Rs 3.75 at Rs 90.05 per scrip on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).