Shares of Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) surged 9.5 percent to hit their 52-week high of ₹25.3 apiece on Friday, November 18, after the public sector lender emerged as the top performer among PSBs in terms of loan growth in the second quarter of 2022-23.
The Pune-headquartered lender recorded a 28.62 percent increase in gross advances at ₹1,48,216 crore at the end of September 2022, according to quarterly numbers of PSBs.
This was followed by Union Bank of India with a 21.54 percent growth at ₹7,52,469 crore. The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) stood at the third spot with an 18.15 percent jump in gross advances.
BoM and SBI with 3.55 percent Net Interest Margin (NIM), a key profitability parameter, stood at the top among PSBs. This was followed by Bank of India at 3.49 percent and the Central Bank of India at 3.44 percent.
BoM and SBI were in the lowest quartile as far as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) and net NPAs were concerned, the analysis of the quarterly financial numbers published by public sector lenders shows.
As per the analysis, gross NPAs reported by BoM and SBI were 3.40 percent and 3.52 percent of their total advances, respectively, in the second quarter. Net NPAs of these banks came down to 0.68 percent and 0.80 percent, respectively, at the end of September 2022.
However, SBI's total loans were about 17 times higher at ₹25,47,390 crore as compared to ₹1,48,216 crore of BoM in absolute terms.
With regard to Retail-Agriculture-MSME (RAM) loans, BoM recorded the highest growth of 22.31 percent followed by Bank of Baroda with 19.53 percent and SBI at 16.51 percent during the period under review.
As far as low-cost Current Account Savings Account (CASA) deposits are concerned, BoM topped the chart with 56.27 percent followed by the Central Bank of India at 50.99 percent.
Moreover, BoM has a 16.71 percent Capital Adequacy Ratio, the highest among PSBs, followed by Canara Bank at 16.51 percent and Indian Bank at 16.15 percent.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week said the government's efforts to reduce bad loans have yielded results with all the 12 PSBs reporting a 50 percent jump in combined net profit at ₹25,685 crore in the second quarter. In the first half of FY23, the cumulative net profit of all public sector banks increased by 32 percent to ₹40,991 crore.
BoM's net profit more than doubled to ₹535 crore in the September quarter as against ₹264 crore in the year-ago period. Its net interest income (NII) was up 25.84 percent YoY in Q2FY23 to ₹1,887 crore. Its NIM improved to 3.55 percent in Q2FY23 from 3.27 percent in Q2FY22.
In November so far, the stock has surged 24 percent, extending gains from a 14 percent jump in October. It has advanced 69 percent in 6 months from its 52-week low of ₹15, hit in May 2022. The stock has rallied 32 percent YTD.
