Canara Bank Q3 net profit jumps 3 times to ₹321.88 crore

State-owned Canara Bank on Friday reported a nearly three-fold jump in net profit to Rs 321.88 crore for the third quarter of 2016-17. The city head quartered lender had posted a net profit of Rs 84.97 crore for October-December quarter of 2015-16 fiscal.

The bank's total income rose marginally to Rs 12,079.37 crore for the quarter under review, from Rs 12,050.63 crore in the year-ago period. However, the bank's gross Non Performing Assets (NPAs) or bad loans as a percentage of total advances rose to 9.97 per cent from 5.84 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.

Its net NPAs went up to 6.72 per cent from 3.90 per cent at the end of December 2015.

Gross NPAs in absolute terms rose significantly to Rs 34,338.65 crore as compared to Rs 19,813.44 crore at the end of December 2015, and the amount of net non performing assets was at Rs 22,295.79 crore compared to Rs 12,940.10 crore in the corresponding period last year. The total provisions, excluding for income tax and contingencies, made during the third quarter rose marginally to Rs 1,484.57 crore as against Rs 1,428.85 crore in the year-ago period.

"Net Profit is around Rs 322 crores. This is because although interest rate on advances is coming down, net interest income there is an increase- that is one factor, second is treasury income...treasury has also contributed good income, so it is a combination of factors," Canara Bank MD and CEO Rakesh Sharma told reporters here.

He said "The operating profit there is good increase, net profit there is an increase, NPA there is only a marginal increase, net interest margin we are able to maintain at good level. Overall, it was a good quarter and we are quite hopeful to improve the performance in March quarter also."

While Bank's CASA deposits increased to Rs 1,53,704 crore, with a y-o-y growth of 30.12 per cent, its retail term deposits increased to Rs 1,97,560 crore with a y-o-y growth of 19.08 per cent.

The Capital Adequacy Ratio as per Basel III norms improved to 12.28 per cent, up from 11.54 per cent a year ago. Bank officials said the total branch network of the Bank increased to 5972, including eight overseas branches (London, Leicester, Johannesburg, New York, Hong Kong, Manama, Shanghai and Dubai), and total number of ATMs further expanded to 10394.