Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank were gaining strongly on a special session of trading on Saturday after the stock posted robust third-quarter net interest income growth.

What Happened: Kotak Mahindra Bank reported a net profit jump of 7.6% at ₹3,005 crore for the December quarter, falling short of market expectations. However, the lender’s net interest income (NII) exceeded analyst estimates, reaching ₹6,554 crore compared to the estimates of around ₹6,430 crore.

Its net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter stood at 5.22%.

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The bank’s asset quality also showed improvement. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) were at 1.68%, down from 1.91% in the year-ago quarter. Net NPAs were at 0.36%, a decrease from 0.48%. Both figures were only slightly short of analysts’ estimates.

Total advances increased by 19% year-on-year to ₹3.72 lakh crore from ₹3.13 lakh crore last year. Unsecured retail advances, including Retail Micro Finance, accounted for 11.6% of net advances, up from 9.3% in the year-ago period.

The current account and savings account (CASA) ratio stood at 47.7%, with average current deposits growing 5% to ₹59,337 crore from ₹56,372 crore last year.

Following the announcement of the results, the Kotak Mahindra Bank stock was trading at ₹1,817.30 on BSE, reflecting a 2.92% increase.

Price Action: Kotak Mahindra’s stock was up 2.98% at ₹1,817.05 in the afternoon session on Saturday.

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