Bank of Maharashtra will raise Rs 5,000 crore to fund its growth in the current financial year even as its net profit in the fourth quarter ended 31 March soared 115% to Rs 355 crore.

This came on the back of healthy growth in net interest income, steep fall in bad loan provisions and reversal of provisions for standard and restructured assets.

In the year-ago period, the state-run bank had reported a net profit of Rs 165 crore.

“We are expecting a 16-18% growth in advances and 13-15% growth in deposits in FY23. The board approval to raise Rs 5,000 crore is to support the projected loan growth which in absolute terms would amount to Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore in FY23,” Bank of Maharashtra managing director and CEO AS Rajeev told reporters.

For the full year to March, the Pune-based lender saw its net profit rising two-fold to Rs 1,152 crore as against Rs 550 crore in FY21.

Net interest income, which is the difference between what the bank earned from lending after paying interests for its funds, rose by nearly 17% over the previous year to Rs 1,612 crore against Rs 1,383 crore a year ago. Total income, however, fell about 9% to Rs 3,949 crore from Rs 4,335 crore amid dip in treasury income, which fell to Rs 28 crore from Rs 211 crore.

Net interest margin improved to 3.17% in the reporting quarter against 3.11% in the year-ago quarter with the cost to income ratio being contained at 44.76%.

Non-interest income was down 58% to Rs 522 crore. Fee-based income was up 13% over the previous year to Rs 372 crore.

Provisions to cover bad loans fell 59% over the previous year to Rs 569 crore from Rs1,376 crore. The bank reversed provisions amounting to Rs 118 crore for standard and restructured assets.

The bank saw a sharp improvement in asset quality, with fresh slippages at Rs 728 crore equalling recoveries.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio fell to 3.94% as of 31 March against 7.23% a year back. Net NPAs declined to 0.97% of net advances against 2.48% over the same period.

The bank’s gross advances rose about 25.6% year-on-year to Rs 1,35,240 crore. The growth in advances was led by corporate & other segments, which surged 38% year-on-year. Retail was up 24% while agriculture grew 17% and MSME by 14% over the previous year.

The bank’s deposits were up about 16% year-on-year to Rs 2,02,294 crore. CASA (current account savings account) share of its deposits increased to 57.85% in January-March from 53.99% a year ago.