Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 31 (IANS): Despite difficult times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the state's premier financial institution, the Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC), has posted a net profit of Rs 6.58 crore for 2020-21.

Sanjay Kaul, KFC Chief Managing Director (CMD), said though the economy is under severe stress due to Covid-19, the KFC could position itself well.

"We were able to improve the performance in terms of all-time high loan portfolio growth, higher sanctions, disbursements and recovery. We could also significantly curb the Non-Performing Asset (NPA) levels," Kaul said.

He was speaking after the annual accounts of the banking institution were adopted by the annual general meeting held here on Tuesday.

Data revealed that loan sanctions registered a growth of 150 per cent to touch Rs 4,147 crore, while it disbursed Rs 3,709 crore as the total income rose to Rs 491 crore.

The gross NPAs have been brought down to 3.58 per cent and net NPAs to 1.48 per cent, which makes for the banking industry's leading performance.

The net worth of KFC has moved up by 16 per cent to Rs 678.35 crore and the capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) stood at 22.85 per cent.

"In order to conserve the capital and to absorb losses due to the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the KFC decided to hold dividends during this year," the KFC CMD said.

As part of the pandemic relief packages, KFC announced three new loan schemes -- 'Startup Kerala Scheme', special scheme for units in industrial estates and the revamped Chief Minister's Entrepreneurship Scheme (CMEDP) for MSME units.

With reduced interest rates and a fast track loan processing system, KFC is targeting new loan sanctions of Rs 4,500 crore this year. Besides, it aims at exceeding the loan portfolio size to more than Rs 5,000 crore this fiscal.