Indian private lender Axis Bank reported a marginal drop in fourth-quarter profit on Saturday, ​hurt by lower income from treasury operations and higher ‌provisions, and missing analyst estimates for a ​gain.

The country’s third-largest private lender by ⁠market capitalisation posted a 0.7 per cent fall in standalone net profit to ₹7,071 crore for the January-March quarter, down ‌from ₹7,118 crore a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a profit of ₹7,316 crore, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Treasury ‌operations’ ⁠pre-tax profit dropped nearly 77 per cent to 303 crore as bond yields rose during the quarter. The Reserve Bank of India’s curbs on forex arbitrage further constrained trading ​income.

Provisions and contingencies ‌more than doubled to 3,522 crore compared to last year due to a voluntary exercise and were not tied to any falling asset ‌quality or other adverse concerns, Axis said ​in its earnings statement.

Axis Bank’s loans grew 19 per cent year-on-year as of the end ⁠of March, while deposits rose 14 per cent.

Credit growth, which moderated over several quarters last year, rebounded in the ‌third quarter to the end of December, supported by sweeping consumption tax cuts and easing inflation.

That momentum has carried into the current quarter as loan growth remained resilient, driven by steady demand across retail and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), ‌while working capital also picked up, marking a recovery ​in corporate loans.

Last week, larger peers HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank beat quarterly profit ⁠estimates aided by strong loan growth.

Net interest income - the ⁠difference between interest earned on advances and paid on deposits - rose 5 per cent to 144.57 ‌billion rupees.

Axis Bank’s gross non-performing asset ratio was 1.23 per cent at the end of March, compared with ​1.40 per cent in the December quarter. 

Published on April 25, 2026