Canara Bank Q1 net profit up 12% at Rs 2.81 bn; bad loan decline marginally

Asset quality of the bank improved sequentially with surprise rise in cash recovery in Q1 of FY19

The decline in bad loan accounts, a sharp rise in cash recovery coupled with good growth in retail advances enabled public sector lender Canara Bank to post a surprise first-quarter net profit on Wednesday.

The Bengaluru-headquartered lender, which posted a huge loss of Rs 48.60 billion in the fourth quarter of last fiscal, recorded 11.51 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 2.81 billion in the first quarter ended June 30, 2018.

Asset quality also improved during this period with its gross NPA falling to 11.05 per cent, 79 basis point lower than 11.84 per cent reported in