Canara Bank Q2 consolidated net up 14% at Rs 405 cr amid fall in bad loans

State-owned Canara Bank on Wednesday reported a rise of 14 per cent in its consolidated net profit at Rs 405.49 crore for the second quarter ended September amid fall in bad loans and healthy income from operations.

The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 356.55 crore during the corresponding July-September period of last fiscal ended March 31, 2019.

Total income (consolidated) in the second quarter of 2019-20 rose to Rs 15,509.36 crore as against Rs 13,437.83 crore in the same period of 2018-19, Canara Bank said in a regulatory filing.

Interest income stood at Rs 12,500.37 crore, up from Rs 11,015.93 crore.

The Consolidated Financial Statement (CFS) of the group companies comprises the result of eight subsidiaries, four associates including two Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and a joint venture, the bank said.

On a standalone basis, bank posted an increase of 22 per cent at Rs 364.92 crore during the quarter, up from Rs 299.54 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income rose to Rs 14,461.73 crore from Rs 12,679.06 crore.

The bank witnessed fall in its bad loans proportion with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) standing at 8.68 per cent (Rs 38,711.33 crore) of gross advances by end of September 2019 from 10.56 per cent (Rs 45,233.22 crore) a year-ago.

Net NPAs too came down to 5.15 per cent (Rs 22,090.04 crore) from 6.54 per cent (Rs 26,777.64 crore).

Thus, provisions for bad loans for the quarter came down to Rs 2,297.43 crore from Rs 2,406.84 crore on a consolidated basis. On a standalone basis, it was down at Rs 2,295.61 crore from Rs 2,403.06 crore a year-ago.

The board of directors in it meeting held on September 13, 2019 has considered and accorded its 'In principle approval' for amalgamation of Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank as advised by the alternative mechanism of government and to commence the process of amalgamation subject to all applicable approvals, the bank said.

"During the second quarter of the financial year, bank has received Rs 6,571 crore from government on September 27, 2019 and September 30, 2019 towards preferential allotment of equity shares and RBI has permitted the bank to consider the amount as part of CETl capital, pending allotment of equity shares," it said.

Provision Coverage Ratio as on September 30, 2019 was 70.11 per cent (68.62 per cent as on June 30, 2019 and 61.39 per cent as on September 30,2018), the bank said.

Bank's total business grew by 7.71 per cent at Rs 10.56 lakh crore; gross deposits was up by 10.42 per cent at Rs 6.09 lakh crore and gross advances were up by 4.22 per cent at Rs 4.46 lakh crore as on September 30, 2019, the bank said in a release.

The stock of Canara Bank was trading at Rs 210.60 on BSE, up 1.86 per cent from previous close.