Canara Bank posts Q4 net loss at Rs 3,905cr on rise in NPAs

Bank's gross NPAs during quarter soar to 9.4% as against 3.89% during same period in the preceding fiscal

Public sector lender Canara Bank today posted a standalone net loss at Rs 3,905.49 crore for the March quarter as non-performing assets surged.

The bank had registered a net profit of Rs 612.96 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2014-15.

Also, the total income during the quarter fell to Rs 12,116.14 crore as against Rs 12,429.21 crore in the same period a year ago, Canara Bank said in a regulatory filing.

The bank's gross bad loans or non-performing assets (NPAs) during January-March quarter soared to 9.4 per cent as against 3.89 per cent during the same period in the preceding fiscal.

The gross NPAs in terms of amount stood at Rs 31,637.83 crore, significantly up from Rs 13,039.96 crore in the year-ago period.

Net NPAs were 6.42 per cent (Rs 20,832.91 crore) of net advances, as against 2.65 per cent (Rs 8,740.09 crore) a year ago.

Consequently, as per RBI's Asset Quality Review (AQR) guidelines, bank kept aside a higher amount of Rs 6,331.54 crore towards provisions for bad loans and contingencies for the fourth quarter of 2015-16 as against Rs 1,009.57 during the corresponding quarter of preceding fiscal.

For 2015-16, the bank registered a net loss of Rs 2,812.82 on its books. Its net profit stood at Rs 2,702.63 during the year ended March 31, 2015.

"Total income has increased to Rs 48,897.36 crore for the year ended March 31, 2016 from Rs 48,300.29 crore for the year ended March 2015", it said.

The bank has provided a sum of Rs 335.08 crore, 15 per cent of the outstanding amount of Rs 2,233.86 crore, as on March 31, 2016 under food credit available by state government of Punjab.

Further, the Canara Bank said the Board of Directors of the company at its meeting held today has not recommended payment of dividend for the year 2015-16.

With this dismal quarterly performance, Canara Bank has joined the state-sector peers like Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, UCO Bank who have posted big losses during January-March period of 2015-16.

Shares of Canara Bank closed 2.94 per cent down at Rs 192.90 apiece on BSE.