Bank of Maharashtra Q4 results: Net profit up 45% at Rs 1,218 crore

Bank of Maharashtra’s (BoM) net profit is up by 44.95 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,218 crore for the January-March quarter (Q4) of financial year 2024 on the back of a steady rise in net interest income (NII) and uptick in fees and commissions.

Sequentially, the public sector lender’s profit rose by 17.6 per cent from Rs 1,036 crore in the quarter ended December (Q3) of financial year 2024.

As for annual performance, the Pune-based bank’s net profit for financial year 2024 rose 55.84 per cent to Rs 4,055 crore from Rs 2,602 crore for financial year 2023.

Its board has recommended a 14 per cent dividend for financial year 2024. Its stock closed 3.65 per cent higher at Rs 67.62 per share on BSE on Friday even as leading indices were down by 0.7 – 0.8 per cent. The results came during market hours on Friday.

BoM’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) stood at 17.38 per cent with Common Equity Tier-1 (CET1) at 12.5 per cent as at the end of March 2024.

Nidhu Saxena, its managing director and chief executive officer, said the bank can comfortably support business in the ongoing financial year with current capital adequacy level.

However, beyond that (financial year 2026 onwards), the bank would need growth capital and will also have to comply with regulatory norms to have at least 25 per cent public holding.

This would mean the Government of India’s stake is likely to decline from 86.46 per cent at the end of March 2024.

Bank plans to raise about Rs 7,500 crore in equity capital through two or three tranches, keeping in mind the market conditions and shareholders’ interest.

It would like to maintain CAR between 16-17 per cent, Saxena said in a post-results media conference.

The bank’s Net Interest Income (NII) expanded by 18.17 per cent to Rs 2,584 crore in Q4 of financial year 2024, compared to Rs 2,187 crore in Q4 of financial year 2023. Sequentially, NII rose by 4.81 per cent over Q3 of financial year 2024.

The bank’s net interest margin (NIM) improved to 3.97 per cent in Q4 of financial year 2024 from 3.78 per cent in Q4 of financial year 2023. Sequentially, too, NIM was up from 3.95 per cent in Q3 of financial year 2024.