Mumbai, July 17 -- Axis Bank's asset quality deteriorated in the first quarter of the current financial year due to the sustained elevation in retail unsecured slippages and a change in the classification metric for non-performing assets (NPA). The first among private sector banks to declare its results for the April-June quarter, Axis Bank also saw a rise in provisions owing to the technical impact, weighing on the bottomline.

Net profit for the private sector lender fell 4% on year and 18% sequentially to Rs.5,806 crore for the reporting quarter. Adjusted for the technical impact, the profit after tax would have been Rs.614 crore higher.

Axis Bank said it undertakes an annual internal inspection in January-February every year, where i...