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Informist, Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2026

By J. Navya Sruthi

MUMBAI – Union Bank of India's net profit for the March quarter is likely to fall as net interest margin is expected to decline due to downward repricing of loan book, according to brokerage firms tracking the bank. 

The lender is expected to post a net profit of INR 44.96 billion for the March quarter, down nearly 10% on year, and over 10% on a sequential basis, according to the average of estimates by six brokerage firms. The highest estimate for the bank's net profit is INR 51.23 billion from Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers Ltd., while the lowest is INR 39.70 billion from Equirus Securities Pvt. Ltd.

"We expect NIM (net interest margin) to decline marginally, led by re-pricing of the loan book lower... credit cost is expected to decline sharply yoy (year-on-year)," Kotak Securities said in a report. The brokerage firm expects the bank's net interest margin to fall 5 basis points sequentially to 2.6% in the March quarter.

The bank's net interest income for the March quarter is estimated at INR 96.21 billion, over 1% higher than in the year-ago period and 3% up compared with that in the trailing quarter. Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. has the highest estimate for the bank's net interest income at INR 98.56 billion, while Equirus Securities Pvt. Ltd. has the lowest estimate for the metric at INR 94.36 billion.

The state-owned bank's gross advances rose 10% on year to INR 10.79 trillion while deposits were up nearly 3% on year at INR 13.07 trillion as on Mar. 31, according to the bank's quarterly business update. The bank's credit-deposit ratio rose to 80.4% in the March quarter, up from 74.48%. 

Going forward, analysts will watch for the bank's comments and guidance related to the trajectory of net interest margin and recovery in loan growth. The bank is scheduled to announce its quarterly earnings on Thursday.

Shares of Union Bank have risen nearly 7% since it announced its December quarter earnings. At 1416 IST, shares of the bank were trading over 1% higher at INR 191.78 on the National Stock Exchange.

Of the seven brokerage reports on the bank available with Informist, five have a "buy" recommendation with an average target price of INR 199 apiece, one has a "hold" call, and one has a "sell" recommendation with a target price of INR 160, down 19% from the current market price. 

Following are the earnings estimates for Union Bank of India for the March quarter from six brokerages in descending order of the estimate of net profit in INR billion:

End

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

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