Axis Bank’s September-end loan book includes ₹43,759 crore used by depositors to finance FCNR(B) deposits with the bank. Its international branches provided those loans.
How the financing works
FCNR(B) stands for Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Banks). These are foreign-currency term deposits for non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin who meet RBI eligibility rules.
The customer owes the bank a loan; the bank owes the customer a deposit. Both remain in reported balances.
Reading the growth figures
Total loans grew 23.0% year on year, or 19.1% excluding those loans. Deposit growth was 20.7%, compared with an adjusted 17.0%. Retail loans grew 16.4%, or 9.5% after the exclusion.
These September 30 comparisons remove only the specified loan-backed component, rather than all FCNR deposits. All three compare balances with a year earlier.
A loan financing a deposit has a different purpose from a mortgage. The adjustment helps distinguish what the lending funded.
Reading the profit comparison
The results, approved on October 17, cover the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Standalone net profit was ₹7,003.28 crore, up 37.6% from a year earlier but down 1.6% from the June quarter.
Operating profit rose 6.4% year on year, while net provisions and contingencies fell from ₹3,547.04 crore to ₹1,693.74 crore.
That comparison includes a prior-year one-off. In the September 2025 quarter, Axis made a ₹1,231 crore provision on loans still classified as performing that no longer qualified for priority-sector lending, a regulatory classification. The earlier charge lowered the profit base against which this quarter is compared.
Lower provisions helped profit growth outpace operating-profit growth. Comparing the profit line alone would miss the difference between earnings from operations and changes in the amounts set aside for risk.
The Crunch
Loan and deposit growth describe how much a bank has expanded. To understand the business behind that growth, readers also need to know what the loans financed and how profits were earned.