India- Credit growth to the MSME sector is on a firm footing: SIDBI CMD

Mumbai, May 17 (KNN) Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) Thursday reported a 28.22% jump in net profit at Rs 519.36 crore for the March quarter as against Rs 405.06 crore in year-ago period.

For the full year, its profit after tax jumped 36.5% to 1,952.21 crore from 1,429.21 crore in FY18 due to increased portfolio and reducing cost to income ratio.

Net interest margin went down by 47 basis points to 1.89 per cent as on March 2019 from 2.36% as on March 2018 due to focus on low risk assets and increased cost of funding.

During the March quarter, net interest income (NII) improved by 29% to 721.20 crore from 559.30 crore in the same period last year.

Total income in the quarter improved to 2,712 crore as against 1,857.39 crore in the same period last year.

Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) ratio decreased by 31 basis points to 0.63 per cent from 0.94 per cent and net NPA ratio decreased by five basis points to 0.21 per cent from 0.26 per cent.

Provision coverage ratio (PCR) was at 87% as on March 2019, a decrease of 200 basis points from March 2018 level.

"Credit growth to the MSME sector is on a firm footing and aggregate MSME lending as a proportion to the gross domestic product is on the rise. This has helped us achieve such encouraging financial performance," Chairman and Managing Director, SIDBI, Mohammad Mustafa said in a statement.

"For FY20, our focus will be to sustain growth momentum, build scalable and profitable franchise focused on MSME development and financing," Mustafa said.

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