Axis Bank, the third largest private sector bank in India announced results for the fourth quarter of 2018 and fiscal year 2018.

The bank reported income from operations of Rs 14,559.85 crores for the fourth quarter of 2018, up by 2.66 percent as against Rs 14,181.31 crores for the fourth quarter of 2017.

For fiscal 2018, it reported income from operations of Rs 56,747.40 crore as against Rs 56,233.47 crores for fiscal 2017.

The bank announced that the Net Profit for fiscal 2018 contracted by 93% and stood at Rs 276 crores.

The Net Loss for the fourth quarter of 2018 stood at Rs 2,189 crores.

The Net Interest Income for fiscal 2018 grew 3% Year-on-Year (YOY) basis at Rs 4,730 crores and the Net interest margin stood at 3.44%.

The Net Interest Income for fiscal 2018 rose 3% YOY to Rs 18,618 crores from Rs 18,093 crores during fiscal 2017. Net interest margin for fiscal 2018 stood at 3.44%

The Fee income for fiscal 2018 grew by 12% YOY basis and stood at Rs 8,867 crores.

The Net Interest Income for the fourth quarter of 2018 was flat YoY and Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) at Rs 4,730 crores.

Other income (comprising fee, trading profit, and miscellaneous income) for the fourth quarter of 2018 de-grew 7% YOY to Rs 2,789 crores as against Rs 3,013 crores during the same period last year. During fiscal 2018, other income degrew 6% YOY and stood at Rs 10,967 crores.

The bank reported that the Fee Income for the fourth quarter of 2018 grew 9% QoQ and 1% YoY and stood at Rs 2,448 crores.

The key driver of fee income growth was Retail Banking, which grew 6% YOY and constituted 48% of the Bank's total fee income. Cards' fees grew 15% YOY. Transaction Banking fees grew 23% YOY and constituted 27% of the total fee income of the Bank. Trading profits for the quarter stood at Rs 215 crores.

Asset Quality of Axis Bank

As on 31st March 2018, the Bank's Gross NPA and Net NPA levels rose to 6.77% and 3.40% from 5.28% and 2.56% as on December 31, 2017, respectively.

The Bank has recognized slippages of Rs 16,536 crores during the fourth quarter of 2018. This includes an accelerated recognition in the stressed loan book of the Bank, particularly in the power sector. It also includes a onetime impact driven by recent regulatory guidelines on Resolution of Stressed Assets.

Corporate lending slippages stood at Rs 13,938 crores. 90% of this came from disclosed BB & below accounts. The BB and below-rated book has declined by 44% in this quarter and stood at Rs 8,994 crores. This is 1.8% of the Bank's Gross Customer Assets and is down to 1/4th of the 7.3% peak reached in June 2016.

As on March 31, 2018, the Bank's Gross NPA stood at Rs 34,249 crores and Net NPA stood at Rs 16,592 crores. Recoveries and upgrades were Rs 3,401 crores while write-offs during the quarter were Rs 3,887 crores.

Net slippages (before write-offs) in Retail and SME stood at Rs 491 crores and Rs 67 crores respectively.

As on March 31, 2018, the Bank's provision coverage, as a proportion of Gross NPAs including prudential write-offs, stood at 65%.