Canara Bank to raise up to $1 bn this month from overseas mkt

State-owned Canara Bank plans to raise up to $1 billion (about Rs 5,487 crore) through bonds this month from the overseas market to fund global business expansion.

"We are planning to raise $750 million to $1 billion through medium term note (MTN) programme this month," Canara Bank Chairman and Managing Director R K Dubey told PTI.

The funds raised would be utilised for growth of overseas business of the bank, he said.

Currently, the bank has five overseas branches at London, Leicester, Shanghai, Manama and Hong Kong.

As part of its global expansion plan, the Bangalore-based bank intends to open branches at 9 nine overseas destinations.

Dubey said, the bank has already got licence for opening a branch at Johannesburg in South Africa.

Besides, he said, the bank has plan to open offices in Sao Paulo (Brazil), Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), Tokyo (Japan), Abuja (Nigeria), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Qatar Financial Centre (Qatar), Frankfurt (Germany) and New York (the USA) by March 2015.

For the fourth quarter ended March 2013, Canara Bank reported 12.5% decline in net profit at Rs 725 crore.

The bank had earned a net profit of Rs 829.09 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. The total income of the bank increased by a marginal 4.8% to Rs 9,471.57 crore in the fourth quarter of 2012-13.

During the fiscal 2012-13, the bank recorded 14.3% growth in its net profit at Rs 3,283 crore against Rs 2,872 crore previous fiscal.