Kotak Mahindra Bank Profit Beats Estimates as Bad Loans Fell

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. logo is displayed at the company's head office at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018. India's economy is expected to grow at 6.75 percent this year on the back of a recovery in second half of the year, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian said in the Economic Survey presented in Parliament on Nov. 29. Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

Rahul Satija, Bloomberg News

Jan 25, 2021

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(Bloomberg) -- Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., India’s third-largest lender by market value, posted December-quarter profit that topped analyst expectations as bad debt fell.

Net income totaled 18.5 billion rupees ($254 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with 16 billion rupees a year earlier, the Mumbai-based bank said in a filing Monday. Analysts had expected a profit of 17 billion rupees, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg.

Kotak Mahindra, helmed by the world’s richest banker Uday Kotak, has been able to weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic as the economy saw a rebound in consumer spending. HDFC Bank Ltd. this month posted third-quarter profit that beat analyst expectations as earnings were buoyed by strong loan growth.

Gross bad loan ratio at Kotak Mahindra narrowed to 2.26% at the end of December from 2.55% three months earlier. The ratio would have been 3.27% without the relaxation of rules regarding the recognition for bad debt, the bank said in the filing.

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