Canara Bank Q2 net drops 16% to Rs 529 cr on higher provisions

State-owned Canara Bank today reported a 15.6 per cent fall in its September quarter net profit at Rs 528.86 crore, impacted by higher provisions.
The bank had registered a net profit of Rs 626.84 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Total income of the bank increased to Rs 12,477.95 crore for the quarter ended September 30, from Rs 11,915.21 crore for the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
"There is a hit of almost Rs 100 crore to net profit at Rs 529 crore for the current quarter compared to Rs 626.84 crore last year as we have improved the fundamentals by making additional provision in all areas," Canara Bank CFO N Selvarajan told reporters here.

Provisions (other than tax) and contingencies grew by about 49 per cent to Rs 1,212.31 crore as against Rs 813.70 crore reserved during the same period a year ago.
Gross NPA ratio stood at 4.27 per cent compared to 2.92 per cent in the same period year ago, while the net NPA ratio stood at 2.90 per cent compared 2.31 per cent earlier.

CASA deposits grew by 11.51 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.16 lakh crore, and CASA ratio (domestic) improved to 25.49 per cent from 23.71 per cent last year.
The net interest margin (NIM - domestic) improved to 2.38 per cent against 2.36 per cent last year and NIM (global) was at 2.24 per cent, same as last year.

Speaking on the goals for FY16, bank officials said the thrust will be towards areas like retail business, asset quality, fee income and NPA management, apart from improving operational ratios such as NIM, RoA, RoE and Cost-to-Income.
They said the number of branches increased to 5734, including 7 foreign branches, and number of ATMs increased to 9132. The bank also has 147 e-lounges.