Augmentation of retail business, digitalisation and revamping circles saw Canara Bank post a 11.51 per cent rise in net profit at ₹281 crore in Q1 of 2018-19 against the ₹251 crore it reported in the same period last year. The bank’s operating profit before provisions and contingencies stood 4.35 per cent higher at ₹10,259.67 crore, against ₹9,831.72 crore recorded last year.
The bank’s total income is also higher by 7.22 per cent at ₹13,192.46 crore, against ₹12,304.10 crore recorded last year. EPS for the quarter stood at ₹3.84 against ₹4.21 posted last year.
“The bank is on the road to sustained growth and is keen on strengthening the balance sheet through augmenting retail business, digitalisation and transformation.
“We see clear signs of recovery. This quarter it was visible with good recovery and upgradations, backed by a strong 56 per cent quarter-on-quarter improvement in cash recovery (₹3,537 crore), resulting in both gross and net NPAs improving sequentially to 11.05 per cent and 6.91 per cent, respectively,” said Rakesh Sharma, MD and CEO Canara Bank.
“As for the stressed assets, the ratio is sequentially down to 12.1 per cent from 12.7 per cent, highlighting the consistent efforts of the bank in improving the asset quality,” he added.
The bank’s gross NPA stood at ₹44,659.56 crore (last year ₹37,657.76 crore); net NPA at ₹26,693.50 crore (last year ₹24,300 crore) and percentage of gross NPA stood at 11.05 per cent, against 10.56 per cent last year. The percentage of net NPA stood at 6.91 per cent against last year’s 7.09 per cent.
Net interest income (NII) of the bank surged by 43.13 per cent to ₹3,883 crore y-o-y from ₹2,713 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) (domestic) improved to 2.75 per cent and NIM (global) stood at 2.52 per cent.
On the efficiency parameters of the bank, cost of deposits has come down by 34 bps to 5.49 per cent from 5.83 per cent last year.