UCO Banks Q4 Loss Shrinks To ₹1,552 Cr

UCO Bank is hopeful of turning profitable and coming out of the RBI’s Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework by the fourth quarter of this fiscal.

“The net non-performing asset (NPA) is expected to come down to below 6 per cent, and the bank should return to profit by the fourth quarter of this fiscal, and we expect to come out of PCA,” AK Goel, MD and CEO, UCO Bank, told newspersons here on Tuesday.

Apart from focussing on recovery and containing fresh slippages, the bank will also lay emphasis on CASA mobilisation to effect a turnaround.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2019, the bank saw its losses narrowing to ₹1,552 crore, against a net loss of ₹2,134 crore in the same period last fiscal. The bank had posted a net loss of ₹999 crore in Q3 FY19.

The provisions for non-performing assets (NPAs) in the last quarter stood at ₹2,602 crore, against  ₹3,134 crore in the same period of FY18.

The percentage of gross NPA to total advances stood at 25 per cent (24.64 per cent) during the quarter under review, while net NPA fell to 9.72 per cent (13.10 per cent).

The bank’s share of CASA deposit stood at nearly 43 per cent during the quarter under review,  compared to 35 per cent last year. Deposits from Iran accounted for a good part of CASA deposits. UCO Bank is the only bank for settling payments for oil import from Iran, which has given it access to interest-free deposits.