Exim Bank FY21 net profit jumps to Rs 254 cr as NPAs drop

Export Import (Exim) Bank of India on Friday reported more than doubling of its FY21 net profit to Rs 254 crore as bad loans dipped and said it is ”cautiously optimistic” about growth this fiscal. The city-headquartered bank, a development finance institution run by the central government to support its diplomacy efforts, had reported a profit of Rs 124 crore in the year-ago period.

Its Managing Director David Rasquinha said that on a currency-neutral basis, it witnessed a loan growth of 7 percent in the last financial year but the Rs 2.51 appreciation in the rupee against the dollar resulted in the reported number being lower at 3.5 percent. This was because a bulk of the bank’s Rs 1.03 lakh crore book is linked to the greenback. The bank is ”cautiously optimistic” about growth in FY22, and is aspiring to grow its book by 7-12 percent on a currency neutral perspective.

Rasquinha said major markets for Indian exporters like the US and Europe have already recovered which will lead to greater role to be played by the bank for supporting domestic exporters. While the funded exposure rose 3.5 percent, the non-fund exposure in the form of guarantees given to projects declined by 10.34 percent to Rs 14,229 crore, which was attributed to a general slowdown in new projects because of the pandemic.