Axis Bank reported a marginal decline in fourth quarter standalone net profit at ₹7,071 crore against ₹7,117.50 crore in the year ago quarter, with decline in other income and an additional one-time provision weighing on the bottomline.
In FY26, net profit was down 7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) at ₹24,457 crore ( ₹26,373 crore in FY25).
The Board of Directors of India’s third largest private sector bank recommended a final dividend of ₹1 per equity share (face value of 2 each) for FY26.
The Board approved raising of funds by issuance of debt instruments in Indian/Foreign currency up to an amount of ₹35,000 crore. It also approved raising of funds by issuance of equity shares/ depository receipts aggregating up to an amount of ₹20,000 crore.
The Bank’s management said while funds raise via issuance of debt instruments will be acted upon in FY27, raising of funds by issuance of equity shares is just an enabling provision.
Net interest income (difference between interest earned and interest expended) increased about 5 per cent y-o-y to ₹14,457 crore ( ₹13,811 crore in Q4FY25).
‘Other income’ including profit/loss from investments, earnings from foreign exchange and derivative transactions, commission earned from guarantees/letters of credit, fees earned from providing services to customers, selling of third party products etc, declined 11 per cent y-o-y to ₹6,023 crore ( ₹6,780 crore).
Total Provisions & Contingencies (other than tax) jumped 159 per cent to ₹3,522 crore ( ₹1,359 crore). A break-up of this accounting head shows that loan loss provisions declined 16 per cent y-o-y to ₹1,146 crore.
However, in view of the evolving and unpredictable macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties, the Bank created an additional one-time provision of ₹2,001 crore.
Referring to the additional one-time provision, Puneet Sharma, CFO, emphasised that the move is prudent and precautionary in nature and does not reflect deterioration in asset quality or adverse credit trends in the bank’s loan or investment portfolio as of reporting date. Our core asset quality metrics remain stable and within our risk address.”
Based on the Bank’s current assessment, this provision, which is calibrated using internal stress testing by the risk function under severe but plausible downside scenarios, is considered sufficient to absorb potential incremental provisioning requirements even under the most adverse test scenario modeled for FY27, he added.
Sharma said the Bank’s adverse test scenario assumes average oil prices over $150 for 12 months, inflation at 7.4 per cent and currency depreciating by 20 per cent over current levels amongst some of the variables.
Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO, said: “There is nothing in our portfolio which tells us that these (additional one-time) provisions will be used. It is not based on what we see today, but the whole scenario in West Asia remains uncertain.
“Risks are uncertain. It remains volatile, and obviously we hear of contradictory news actually on a daily basis. So, given this scenario, we thought that it is only prudent to make some provisions.”
He underscored that if this crisis gets resolved, then this provision based on the Bank’s framework will be written back at some stage.
“We have said that we want to be a conservative franchise, and that’s exactly what we are doing,” Chaudhry said.
Total deposits grew 14 per cent y-o-y to stand at ₹13,35,834 crore as at March-end 2026. The proportion of low-cost current account, savings account (CASA) deposits declined a tad to 40 per cent of total deposits from 41 per cent a year ago.
The Bank’s advances rose 19 per cent y-o-y to stand at ₹12,33,570 crore. Corporate loans grew at the fastest clip (38 per cent), followed by SME loans (24 per cent) and retail loans (8 per cent).
Published on April 25, 2026