Mumbai, Jan 23 : Private lender Axis Bank on Tuesday reported a 3.7 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 6,071 crore for the October-December quarter of the current financial year, against a net profit of Rs 5,853.07 crore in the same quarter last year. Axis Bank's net interest income (NII) grew 9 per cent year-on-year and 2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QOQ) to Rs 12,532 crore. Its Net interest margin (NIM), which is the difference between the interest earned from lending and the interest paid on deposits, for the quarter stood at 4.01 per cent. The bank's gross NPAs fell to 1.58 per cent in the quarter from 1.73 per cent in the previous quarter. Its net NPAs, however, remained the same at 0.36 per cent in the quarter. On a year-on-year basis, the gross NPAs were down 80 basis points from 2.38 per cent. The net NPAs were down 11 basis points from 0.47 per cent. At the end of the quarter, the bank's provisions stood at Rs 1,028.34 crore which was higher than the corresponding figure of Rs 814.56 crore in the preceding quarter. /IANS