Kotak Mahindra Bank fourth-quarter profit rises 15%

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, India`s fifth-biggest private sector bank by assets, on Monday reported a 15 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit, boosted by higher interest and fee incomes.

Net profit was 11.24 billion rupees ($169.34 million) for the three months ended March 31, compared with 9.76 billion rupees a year ago, the Mumbai-based bank said in a statement. Analysts had on average expected a net profit of 11.29 billion rupees for the lender, which has the second-highest market capitalisation of about $33 billion in the sector, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans dropped to 2.22 percent by end-March, compared with 2.31 percent in the preceding quarter and 2.59 percent a year ago.