State-run lender Canara Bank on Friday reported a 64.90 percent jump in its March quarter net at Rs 1,666 crore on the back of a rise in core interest income and a decrease in money set aside for bad debts.

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The Bengaluru-headquartered bank closed FY22 with a net profit of Rs 5,678 crore, which was more than double of the year-ago period.

For the reporting quarter, its core net interest income rose by nearly 25 percent to Rs 7,005 crore, on the back of a 9.77 percent growth in credit and a 0.42 percent widening in the net interest margin to 2.93 percent.

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The total non-interest income decreased by 5.12 percent in the March quarter to Rs 4,462 crore, largely because of a massive decline in recoveries from written-off accounts when compared with the year-ago period.

The overall provisions rose by 8 percent to Rs 4,536 crore during the quarter, but the money set aside for non-performing assets declined by 52 percent to Rs 2,130 crore.

However, there was a sharp spike in provisions for non-performing investments in the March quarter, with Rs 1,035 crore being set aside, as against a write-back of Rs 244 crore in the year-ago period.

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The fresh slippages came down to Rs 3,619 crore in March 2022 quarter, as against Rs 14,495 crore in the year-ago quarter, which resulted in the gross non-performing assets ratio declining to 7.51 percent, from 8.93 percent in the year-ago period.

The bank's managing director and chief executive L V Prabhakar told reporters that it plans to trim the gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) down further to 6 percent by end of FY23.

The lender will be aiming for an 8 percent overall growth in advances, which will include 10 percent growth in retail and will also be doing corporate loans, he said, adding that it has a project loans pipeline of Rs 35,000 crore. Corporate demand is coming from renewable energy, health, steel and infrastructure, he said.

The bank also plans to widen the overall Net interest margin (NIM) to 2.90 percent in FY23, as against the 2.82 percent it got in FY22, he said. It is also targeting to raise the proportion of the low-cost current and saving account deposits to 38 percent from the present 36 percent.

The overall capital adequacy, after payment of dividend, stood at 14.90 percent as of March 31, 2022. The bank may raise up to Rs 9,000 crore through additional tier-I, or tier-2 bond sales during the fiscal year, Prabhakar said, adding that though it is comfortable with core capital, its board will be deliberating on a proposal at its next meeting.

The bank's scrip was trading 0.71 percent down at Rs 223.05 a piece at 1436 hrs on the BSE, as against a correction of 1.45 percent on the benchmark.

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First Published:May 6, 2022 6:11 PM IST