Axis Bank posted earnings for Q1FY21 which were very much in line with expectations.

Its net profit for the quarter declined 19% (YoY) at Rs.1112 crore, mainly on account of other income falling 33% due to sharp decline in fee income. Higher provisions also impacted the bottomline – it was up 16% (YoY) at Rs.4416 crore but sequentially, lower by 43%.  NII was up 19.5% at Rs.6985 crore.

The Bank had made incremental provisions of Rs 733 crores in Q1 FY21 towards COVID-19. The Banks said, “the bank holds in aggregate additional provisions of Rs 6,898 crore. It is pertinent to note that this is over and above the NPA provisioning included in our PCR calculations, and the 0.4% standard asset provisioning requirement on standard assets."

Slippages were to the tune of Rs.2218 crore v/s Rs.3920 crore (QoQ). Recoveries and upgrades from NPAs during the quarter were Rs 608 crore while write-offs were Rs 2,284 crore.

In terms of asset quality, sequentially, Gross NPA fell from 4.86% to 4.72% while Net NPA fell 33 bps to 1.23%.

9.7% of its outstanding loan book was under moratorium as of June 30.

The market seems to be giving the numbers a thumbs up. The stock opened 6% higher at Rs.473 and rose over 8% to hit an intraday high at Rs.482.85. Its 10% UC of the day stands at Rs.490.80.