After PNB, THIS state-owned lender reports ₹227-crore loan fraud by Odisha-based firm to RBI

Bank of India (BOI) on Friday, February 21, reported a fraud of ₹226.84 crore by an Odisha-based private company named Gupta Power Infrastructure Ltd to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The state-owned lender informed that the non performing asset (NPA) of Gupta Power Infrastructure is declared as fraud.

The public-sector bank (PSB) has made provisions of ₹212.62 crore in the case of Gupta Power Infrastructure Ltd against the outstanding amount of ₹226.84 crore. The development comes after leading PSB Punjab National Bank (PNB) reported the same loan fraud by the Odisha-based company on February 18.

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In a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges, PNB said it had reported a borrower fraud of ₹270.57 crore to the central bank in Gupta Power Infrastructure Ltd's NPA account. The loan was given by the state-run bank's Station Square branch in Bhubaneswar. According to the prescribed prudential norms, the bank has made provisions amounting to ₹270.57 crore.

Bank of India Q3 Results

Bank of India posted a 35 per cent jump in net profit to ₹2,517 crore during the October-December period of the current fiscal 2024-25 (FY25) compared to ₹1,870 crore in the year-ago period. The lenders' total income increased to ₹19,957 crore during the third quarter of FY25, up from ₹16,411 crore a year ago. 

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The bank's interest income rose to ₹18,210 crore, up from ₹15,218 crore in the third quarter of the preceding year. Net interest income (NII) increased to ₹6,070 crore against ₹5,463 crore for Q3 FY24. The PSB's operating profit rose to ₹3,703 crore from ₹3,004 crore in the year-ago quarter. 

On the asset quality front, the bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to 3.69 per cent of the gross loans by the end of December 2024 quarter from 5.35 per cent a year ago. Similarly, its net NPAs, or bad loans, decreased to 0.85 per cent from 1.41 per cent at the end of the third quarter.

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