Public sector lender Canara Bank on May 18 reported a standalone profit of Rs 1,010.87 crore for the March 2021 quarter (Q4 FY21). The profitability beat analysts' expectations on the back of a dip in loan loss provisions, higher net interest income and other income. The loss in the year-ago quarter stood at Rs 3,259.3 crore.
The results for the quarter and year ended March 2021 included operations of erstwhile Syndicate Bank that merged with Canara Bank with effect from April 2020. Hence, the quarterly and yearly results for the current year are not comparable with the corresponding quarter and yearly results of the previous financial year.
Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, surged 68.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 5,589.2 crore in Q4 FY21, missing analysts' estimates.
Global business increased by 8.23 percent YoY to Rs 16,86,030 crore in March 2021 with global deposits rising 11.5 percent YoY at Rs 10,10,875 crore, and global advances climbing 3.68 percent to Rs 6,75,155 crore, said Canara Bank in its BSE filing.
Profit was estimated at Rs 783.4 crore and net interest income at Rs 6,206 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.
Non-interest income (other income) more than doubled to Rs 5,207 crore in Q4FY21, compared to Rs 2,175 crore in the year-ago quarter. Pre-provision operating profit also spiked significantly to Rs 5,702.55 crore from Rs 2,040.87 crore in the same period.
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Provisions and contingencies stood at Rs 4,134 crore in the March quarter down from Rs 4,325 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 5,375 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The provision coverage ratio dropped to 79.7 percent at the end of March 2021 quarter from 84.9 percent as of December 2020.
On the asset quality front, gross non-performing assets (NPA) fell 2 bps sequentially to 8.93 percent and net NPA declined 11 bps QoQ to 3.82 percent in Q4 FY21.