Private lender, Axis Bank on January 16 reported a 3.83 percent rise in its net profit to Rs 6,304 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year 2024-25. On Sequential basis, net profit of the lender declined 9 percent. In July-September quarter, net profit stood at Rs 6917.57 crore.

According to Moneycontrol's poll of 6 brokerages, net profit for Axis Bank, India's third-largest private lender, was rising 5.6 percent YoY for the third quarter of fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3FY25), driven by moderate loan growth.

Axis Bank earned interest income of Rs 30,954 crore for the fiscal third quarter of 2025, rising 11 percent from Rs 27,961 crore posted in the year-ago period. The lender paid Rs 17,348 crore as interest in the quarter under review, up 12 percent from Rs 15,429 crore in Oct-Dec quarter of the previous fiscal.

The lender's provisions and contingencies, or funds kept aside for potential bad loans, more than doubled year-on-year to Rs 2,156 crore.

Indian lenders have been grappling with higher bad loans in segments such as microfinance and in the unsecured portfolio, forcing them to set aside more funds for potential losses.

Axis Bank's gross non-performing asset ratio, a key gauge of lenders' asset quality, was at 1.46% at December-end, compared with 1.44% three months earlier.

Net interest income - the difference between interest earned and paid - rose 9% to Rs 13,606 crore.

Axis Bank's loans grew 9% year-on-year in the three months to December-end, slower than the 11% rise in the previous quarter. Its total deposits also grew by 9%.

The net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, narrowed to 3.93% from 4.01% a year earlier, and 3.99% in the previous quarter.

Amitabh Chaudhry, MD&CEO, Axis Bank, said: ‘We closed 2024 on a high, firming up our businesses, our capabilities, our presence across the length and breadth of the country with hundreds of new bank branches. Digital and Rural have been our big drivers, along with Sustainability and Inclusivity. The Axis team is upbeat and eager to unlock the opportunities of 2025, supporting the ambitions of a resurgent India, as it looks forward to becoming the third largest global economy in the next few years."