CreditAccess Grameen net profit jumps 83% to Rs 56 crore in March quarter

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New Delhi: Microfinance lender CreditAccess Grameen reported 83% jump in its net profit at Rs 56 crore in last quarter of the fiscal ended March 2021.

The micro lender had posted a net profit of Rs 31 crore in year ago same quarter. Compared sequentially, there was a net loss of Rs 79 crore in third quarter ended December of 2020-21.

Total income of the company grew by 51% in March quarter to Rs 726 crore as against Rs 482 crore in year ago same period, CreditAccess Grameen said in a regulatory filing. CreditAccess said its borrowers declined by 3.5% year on year to 39.12 lakh during the quarter.

For the full year 2020-21, net profit dipped by 61% to Rs 131.40 crore as against Rs 335.49 crore in FY20. Income during the year was up by 45% to Rs 2,466 crore as against Rs 1,705 crore in year ago fiscal.

Gross NPAs spiked to 4.38% of the gross advances by end of FY21 as against 1.49% a year ago. The company said there were write-offs of Rs 461.1 crore (including accelerated write-offs of Rs 273.4 crore and pre-COVID gross non-performing assets of Rs 142 crore) for the year.

Write-offs during Q4FY21 stood at Rs 319 crore, including accelerated write-offs of Rs 273.4 crore. The company said it utilised the strong profitability during Q4FY21 to absorb accelerated write-offs and build additional provisions buffer ahead of FY22.

Additional provisioning buffer of Rs 112.2 crore was on account of COVID-19 pandemic impact, it said. On employee centric initiatives due to COVID, the company said it will reimburse an employee who is not covered under ESIC or insurance with Rs 50,000 who tests positive. Besides, it will also bear cost of vaccination for employees and immediate family members among others.

In case of unfortunate demise of any employee, CreditAccess said it will offer a job to an immediate family member or else contribute by paying salary for 12 months.

Udaya Kumar Hebbar, Managing Director and CEO, CreditAccess Grameen said while FY21 was ended on a very strong footing with robust business growth, the sudden second wave of COVID has posed challenge.

“We are anticipating the collections to witness a temporary decline in Q1FY22 on account of several intermittent lockdowns/restrictions being imposed across various states,” he said.