Union Bank of IndiaMUMBAI: Union Bank of India on Wednesday reported a 29.5% rise in net profit for the June quarter to Rs 5,332 crore, helped by higher net interest income, growth in fee income and lower provisions despite a modest rise in credit costs.Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest paid, rose 10.1% year-on-year to Rs 10,037 crore as global advances grew 12.5% to Rs 10.96 lakh crore while interest expenses fell 3.6%. Net interest margin improved to 2.80% from 2.76% a year earlier and 2.64% in the preceding quarter.The bank's global advances increased to Rs 10,96,331 crore from Rs 9,74,489 crore a year earlier. Retail loans grew 12.1%, MSME advances rose 16.5% and agriculture loans increased 6.8%, taking RAM advances up 11.6%. Domestic advances rose 13.1% while overseas advances declined 3.3%.Global deposits increased 3.5% year-on-year to Rs 12,83,366 crore. Domestic deposits also rose 3.5%, while the domestic CASA ratio improved to 35.1% from 32.5% a year earlier. CASA deposits grew 11.7% and savings deposits increased 12.5%, helping lower the bank's cost of deposits to 5.05% from 5.53% a year ago.Non-interest income rose 2.6% to Rs 4,603 crore. Fee income increased 45% to Rs 3,215 crore and was the main contributor to the increase, offsetting a 54.5% decline in treasury income and a 12.6% fall in recoveries from written-off accounts.Operating income rose 7.7% to Rs 14,640 crore as operating expenses fell 0.8% to Rs 6,638 crore. This lifted operating profit 15.8% to Rs 8,003 crore.Total provisions declined 4.4% to Rs 2,670 crore. Provisions for bad loans fell to Rs 1,020 crore from Rs 1,153 crore a year earlier, although tax expense increased to Rs 1,691 crore from Rs 1,129 crore. Credit cost improved to 0.38% from 0.47% a year earlier.Asset quality improved, with the gross non-performing asset ratio falling to 2.65% from 3.52% a year earlier and the net NPA ratio easing to 0.47% from 0.62%. The provision coverage ratio improved to 95.05% from 94.65%. Gross NPAs declined to Rs 29,093 crore from Rs 34,311 crore, while net NPAs fell to Rs 5,017 crore from Rs 5,874 crore.The bank's capital adequacy ratio improved to 18.46% from 18.30% a year earlier, while the CET-1 ratio increased to 16.38% from 15.30%. Return on assets rose to 1.36% from 1.11% and return on equity improved to 17.23% from 15.15%. Book value per share increased to Rs 162.15 from Rs 142.37.