New Delhi | Union Bank of India on Friday reported nearly doubling of net profit at Rs 3,511 crore in the September quarter, aided by improvement in interest income.

The Mumbai-based public sector lender had posted a net profit of Rs 1,848 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Total income in the second quarter of the current fiscal rose to Rs 28,282 crore, from Rs 22,958 crore in the same period a year ago, Union Bank of India said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit of the bank increased to Rs 7,221 crore, from Rs 6,577 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Interest earned by the bank improved to Rs 24,587 crore over Rs 19,682 crore in September 2022.

Net interest income of the bank grew by 9.89 per cent to Rs 9,126 crore in Q2FY24.

The bank's asset quality showed improvement as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to 6.38 per cent of gross advances at the end of the September quarter from 8.45 per cent a year ago.

Similarly, net NPAs or bad loans declined to 1.30 per cent, as against 2.64 per cent in the year-ago period.

The Capital Adequacy Ratio of the bank increased to 16.69 per cent, as compared to 14.50 per cent at the end of September 2022.

Net interest margin of the bank also improved to 3.18 per cent, as against 3.15 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.

However, the CASA (current account and savings account) ratio declined to 34.66 per cent, as compared to 35.64 per cent in the same period a year ago.

During the quarter, the bank issued additional 57.77 crore equity shares of face value Rs 10 each at issue price of Rs 86.55 under Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) in August 2023 and raised Rs 5,000 crore.

Accordingly, the shareholding of Government of India in the Bank has reduced to 76.99 per cent, as compared to 83.49 per cent as on June 30, 2023