UCO Bank registers 86% growth in Q4 PAT to ₹581 cr, board approves fundraising of ₹2,000 cr

Public sector lender, UCO Bank registered a strong growth in earnings on a year-on-year basis for the fourth quarter of FY23. The bank's PAT came in at ₹581.24 crore in Q4FY23, registering a growth of 86.19% compared to ₹312.18 crore in the same period a year ago. Net interest income (NII) increased by 19.34% to ₹1,972.11 crore in the quarter as against ₹1,652.38 crore in Q4 of FY22.

Sequentially, the earnings were a mixed bag. UCO Bank saw a drop of 10.98% in PAT during Q4FY23 as against a profit of ₹652.97 crore in the December 2022 quarter. On the contrary, NII surged by 1.03% merely QoQ.

In the quarter under review, provisions zoomed to ₹450.54 crore as against ₹332.42 crore in Q3FY23 and ₹465.60 crore in Q4FY22.

Gross non-performing assets (GNPA) plunged sharply to 4.78% in Q4FY23 versus 7.89% in Q4FY22 and 5.63% in Q3FY23. Net NPA stood at 1.29% as compared to 1.66% in Q3FY23 and 2.70% in Q4FY22.

For the full-year FY23, UCO Bank posted its highest ever net profit of ₹1,862.34 crore --- rising by a whopping 100.30% from ₹929.76 crore in FY22.

Also, the lender registered the highest ever NII of ₹7,343.13 crore in FY23, rising by 13.44% as against ₹6,472.95 crore in FY22, fueled by a healthy growth in loan book and improved yield on advances. Net interest margin (NIM) stood at 2.87% for the fiscal showcasing steady improvement.

As of March 31, 2023, the bank witnessed the highest-ever level of global deposits of ₹2,49,337.74 crore in FY23 up by 11.28% YoY. Loan book also stood highest ever at ₹1,61,629.45 crore up by 24.54% YoY.

On BSE, UCO Bank's stock price closed at ₹30.72 apiece up by 2.06% on Tuesday.

In a meeting held on Tuesday, UCO Bank's board members approved the issuance of up to 200 crore equity shares having a face value of ₹10 each at an appropriate premium to raise equity capital of ₹2,000 crore in the financial year FY24.

This fundraising will be done through market options such as follow-on public offers, qualified institutional placement, etc. in one or more tranches.