Union Bank of India shares surged as much as 8.3% on Wednesday to ₹180 following the announcement of its Q3 results, which demonstrated strong profitability growth and significant improvement in asset quality metrics. The bank's performance reflects sustained operational efficiency and effective risk management strategies that have resonated positively with investors.

Market Response and Share Performance

Shares of Union Bank of India are trading 8.3% higher at ₹180 in response to the quarterly results, marking a substantial rally from previous levels. The stock has delivered impressive returns of 70% over the last one year, reflecting investor confidence in the bank's transformation journey and improved fundamentals within the public-sector banking space.

Financial Performance Highlights

The bank's financial performance for Q3 demonstrated resilience with net profit reaching ₹5,017 crores, marking a 9% increase compared to ₹4,604 crores in the corresponding quarter last year. Net Interest Income remained relatively stable with a modest 1% year-on-year growth to ₹9,328 crores from ₹9,241 crores, while operating profit declined to ₹6,942 crores from ₹7,492 crores in the previous year.

Asset Quality Improvement

The bank demonstrated significant improvement in asset quality parameters, which was a key driver of the positive market reaction. Gross NPA ratio declined to 3.06% from 3.29% sequentially, while Net NPA ratio improved to 0.51% from 0.55% in the previous quarter. The bank reported slippages of ₹1,853 crores, down from ₹2,151 crores in the September quarter, easing concerns over credit stress.

Business Growth and Capital Position

The bank's total business stood at ₹22,39,740 crores, up 5.04% from a year earlier. Gross advances rose 7.13% year-on-year, while global deposits increased 3.36% to ₹12,22,856 crores, reflecting the broader banking sector trend of loan growth outpacing deposit growth. The bank maintained comfortable capital buffers with capital-to-risk-weighted assets ratio at 16.49% and common equity tier-1 ratio improving to 13.94% from 13.59% year-on-year.

Nine-Month Performance Analysis

For the nine months ended December, Union Bank of India maintained steady growth trajectory with net profit of ₹13,381 crores, representing a 2.91% increase from ₹13,002 crores in the corresponding period of the previous year. The bank's operational efficiency metrics showed mixed results with cost-to-income ratio increasing to 49.94% for the nine months compared to 44.25% in the previous year, while maintaining healthy return ratios with Return on Assets at 1.20% and Return on Equity at 15.20%.

Union Bank of India has reported loan growth of 7%, which came in below the bank's earlier guidance of 9-10%. This performance indicates that the public sector lender's credit expansion has been slower than initially anticipated.

Loan Growth Performance

The bank's actual loan growth performance compared to its guidance shows a notable variance:

The 7% loan growth represents a shortfall of 2-3 percentage points from the lower end of the bank's projected range. This suggests that Union Bank of India faced challenges in achieving its targeted credit disbursement levels during the period.

Impact on Credit Expansion

The slower-than-expected loan growth indicates that the bank's credit expansion strategy may have encountered headwinds. The variance between actual performance and guidance reflects the challenges faced by the public sector bank in meeting its lending targets.

This performance gap highlights the difference between the bank's projected credit growth trajectory and the actual market conditions or operational factors that influenced lending activities during the period.