Axis Bank on Tuesday reported a drop of 16% in its net profit for the quarter that ended June 30. However, the country’s third-biggest non-state lender beat analysts’ estimate of Rs 1,282 crore and posted a net profit of Rs 1,306 crore for the first quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, the bank’s gross non-performing loans ratio stood at 5.03%, as against 5.04% in March. It wrote off Rs 2,462 crore loans in this quarter.

Referring to steep profit fall in the past quarters, Axis Bank finance chief Jairam Sridharan said, “I feel good about the turnaround gathering a lot of strength.” The bank’s growth was affected by higher provisions, increased credit costs and lower operating income, reported the Economic Times.

Axis Bank also retained its provisioning cost guidance of 175 basis points to 225 basis points for the current financial year, reported Reuters. However, Sridharan said they hope to bring it down in the next year to around 94 basis points.