Canara Bank Q4 net up 65% to Rs 1,666 cr on better net interest margins

Lender to raise up to Rs 9,000 cr in capital via AT1, tier-II bonds

Public sector lender Canara Bank posted a 64.9 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 1,666.2 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2022 (Q4FY22), on improvement in net interest margins.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 1,010.4 crore in Q4FY21.

For FY22, the net profit rose by per cent to  Rs 5,678.4 crore from Rs 2,557.5 crore in FY21.

Recommend Dividend of Rs 6.50 per equity share (of face value of Rs. 10) for 2021-22 subject to shareholders nod.

The Bengaluru-based lender’s net interest income (NII) expanded by 24.84 per cent increased to Rs 7,005 crore in Q4FY22 from Rs 5,622 crore in Q4FY21. The net interest margin (NIM) improved to 2.93 per cent for Q4FY22 as against 2.51 per cent for Q4FY21.

Non-interest income declined by 5.12 per cent Year on Year (YoY) to Rs 4,462 crore in Q4FY22.

Advances increased by 9.77 per cent YoY to Rs 7.4 trillion as at end March 2022. The retail lending Portfolio increased 9.5 per cent YoY to Rs 1.26 trillion as at March 2022. The public sector bank has estimated 8 per cent growth in advances in FY23, said L V Prabhakar, it managing director and chief executive said.

The deposits rose by 7.47 per cent to Rs 10.86 trillion in March 2022. The share of low cost deposits – Current Account and Savings Account (CASA) – stood at 35.88. per cent as at March 31, 2022, up from 34.33 per cent in March 2021. It has set target of 38 per cent for FY23.

The asset quality profile improved with Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs)  declining to 7.51 per cent as at March 31, 2022 from 8.93 per cent in March 202. Its Net NPA stood at 2.65 per cent as at end of March 2022 down from 3 82 per cent a year ago. The lender aims to reduce GNPAs to six per cent and net NPAs to two per cent by March 2023.

The provision coverage ratio for bad loans improved to 84.17 per cent in March 2022 from 79.69 per cent a year ago. It has indicated to improve it to 85 per cent by March 2023.

The capital adequacy ratio of the Bank, as per Basel III, was 14.9 per cent with Tier I ratio was 11.91 per cent as at March 31, 2022.

Bank aims to up to Rs 9,000 crore in Capital through additional tier I bonds and tier II bonds in 2022-23. Bank is not looking raising equity capital for now, Prabhakar said. It had raised Rs 9,000 crore in FY22 through equity, AT1 and tier II bonds.