NEW DELHI: Shrinking loan portfolio and deposit base squeezed total business of state-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) by nearly Rs 90,000 crore in 2015-16 despite a robust GDP growth of 7.6 per cent during the fiscal.While the banking industry saw a loan growth of 9.3 per cent, and 8.6 per cent for deposits during the fiscal, Bank of Baroda’s credit growth rate slowed 10.3 per cent and that of deposits decelerated 7 per cent.As far as nationalised banks sans SBI and associates are concerned, their credit grew 1.4 per cent and deposits 3.1 per cent in 2015-16.The total business, mix of deposits and advances, came down by staggering Rs 87,817 crore in the period under review as against the previous fiscal, as per BoB’s latest annual report.Total business of the bank declined to Rs 9,57,808 crore at the end of March 2016 compared with Rs 10,45,625 crore a year ago.Total deposits declined to Rs 5,74,038 crore in 2015-16, from Rs 6,17,560 crore in the previous fiscal while advances slipped to Rs 3,83,770 crore (Rs 4,28,065 crore).Profit before tax also declined to Rs 8,815.57 crore in the said period as against Rs 9,915.10 crore a year ago.There was a loss of Rs 5,395.55 crore during the year as compared to Rs 3,398.43 crore net profit in the year-ago period.In order to improve functioning of public sector banks, the government roped in professionals from the private sector last year.Even during the June quarter of 2016-17, Bank of Baroda posted a 60 per cent plunge in net profit at Rs 424 crore on account of a surge in bad loans. Net profit stood at Rs 1,052 crore in the year-ago quarter. In January-March, it had reported net loss of Rs 3,230 crore as asset quality worsened.Total income declined to Rs 11,877.91 crore in the quarter ended June, from Rs 12,243.720 crore a year ago.The spike in bad loans meant the gross NPA ratio rose to 11.15 per cent from 4.13 per cent a year ago and 9.99 per cent in the March quarter. Net NPAs more than doubled to 5.73 per cent at the end of June from 2.07 per cent a year earlier.
