Shares of Bank of Baroda (BoB) plunged by 15% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to ₹212.10 following the announcement of its Q4FY25 earnings. The steep decline was driven by investor concerns over a drop in net interest income (NII), narrowing net interest margins (NIM), and a sharp increase in provisions for bad loans, despite a modest rise in the bank’s net profit.
For the quarter, BoB reported a net profit of ₹5,048 crore, representing a 3.3% year-on-year (YoY) increase and a 4.3% sequential rise. However, NII fell by 6.6% YoY to ₹11,020 crore, while NIM declined to 3.02%, its lowest in 14 quarters. The bank’s operating profit remained flat at ₹8,132 crore compared to the same quarter last year but showed improvement over the previous quarter.
In terms of asset quality, the gross non-performing assets (GNPA) slightly improved to ₹27,835 crore, but the net NPA rose to ₹6,994 crore from ₹6,825 crore in the previous quarter. Gross slippages increased to ₹3,159 crore, up from ₹2,915 crore in Q3FY25, and write-offs also jumped to ₹1,662 crore. Total provisions surged 19.2% YoY to ₹1,552 crore, with provisions for bad debts rising significantly.
On the balance sheet front, total deposits stood at ₹14.72 trillion, marking a 10.3% YoY growth, while total advances climbed 12.8% YoY to ₹12.30 trillion. Despite these positive figures, the market responded negatively. BoB became the biggest loser on the Nifty PSU Bank index, which also saw a near 5% drop. Trading volumes hit 1.8 million shares, significantly higher than the two-week average. Analysts raised concerns over margin compression, increased deposit costs, and rising slippages. Anand Dama of Emkay Global characterized the results as “weak,” underlining the financial strain visible in the Q4 numbers.