Canara Bank Q1 profit up 31%

Canara Bank's net profit for the first quarter ended June 30, 2004 grew 31.50 per cent to Rs 336.44 crore, up from Rs 255.85 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The net profit has been arrived at after making a provision of Rs 308.20 crore compared with Rs 241.25 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The Bank has made a provision of Rs 127 crore for non-performing assets during the quarter and hold a floating provision of Rs 800 crore over and above the prudential requirement.

Total income rose by 5.94 per cent to Rs 2,186 crore from Rs 2,063 crore in the corresponding period of last year, while total expenditure came down by 1.6 per cent to Rs 1,541 crore from Rs 1,566 crore a year ago.

Operating profit for the quarter increased from Rs 497 crore to Rs 645 crore, a growth of 29.78 per cent. The bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at 12.84 per cent compared with 12.66 per cent as on March 2004, against the benchmark stipulation of 9 per cent.

The Bank's net NPA ratio has come down to 2.90 per cent from 3.56 per cent. R V Shastri, CMD, Canara Bank, said: "Net NPA came down from Rs 1,378 crore as on March 2004 to Rs 1,341.67 crore as on June 30, 2004. We could effect a cash recovery of Rs 139 crore during the first quarter compared with Rs 91 crore in the first quarter of FY04. We are targeting a cash recovery of Rs 700 crore, which, coupled with other initiatives, is expected to bring down the net NPA below 2.5 per cent by the end of this fiscal."

Return on Assets worked out to 1.32 per cent, compared with 1.20 per cent for June 2003 and 1.34 per cent for 2003-04.

Retail operations continued to receive strategic focus in the current financial year. For the first quarter, the disbursals aggregated to Rs 905 crore compared with Rs 718 crore during April-June 2003, recording a 26 per cent growth.

Outstanding retail advances as on June 2004 aggregated to Rs 8,264 crore, 43.05 per cent higher than Rs 5,777 crore recorded a year ago and forming 17.50 per cent of the Bank's net credit.

The Bank intends to touch aggregate business level of Rs 1,55,000 crore by March 2005 from the current level of Rs 1,34,103 crore.