Canara Bank Q3 net profit rises 60% at Rs 656 crore

State-run Canara Bank today reported 60.2% increase in net profit at Rs 655.92 crore for the quarter ended December despite an increase in bad loans.

The Bangalore-based lender had posted a net profit of Rs 409.35 crore for the October-December quarter of 2013-14 fiscal.

The bank's total income increased to Rs 12,227.86 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 10,935.29 crore in the year-ago period, Canara Bank said in a filing to the BSE.

As far as asset quality of the bank is concerned, gross NPAs as a percentage of total advances rose to 3.35% from 2.79% in the same quarter a year ago.

Its net NPAs went up to 2.42% from 2.39% at the end of December 2013.

Gross NPAs in absolute terms rose to Rs 10,573.57 crore as compared to Rs 8,073.92 crore at the end of December 2013.

However, total provisions, excluding for income tax, made during the third quarter of 2014-15 were Rs 841.33 crore as against Rs 1,051.51 crore in the year-ago period.

Operating profit increased to Rs 1,797.30 crore as against Rs 1,590.86 crore in the corresponding period.

During the first three quarters of 2014-15, Canara Bank posted 7.5% decline in profit at Rs 2,443.17 crore as compared to Rs 2,641.73 crore in the year-ago period.

The bank's total income for the nine month period in the current fiscal stood at Rs 35,871.08 crore as compared to Rs 31,870.65 crore in the same period of previous financial year.

Shares of Canara Bank were trading 2.71% up at Rs 450.70 per unit during afternoon session on the BSE.