Canara Bank Q4 net profit jumps 28 pc; aims 11 pc loan growth in FY26

Mumbai, May 8 (PTI) State-owned Canara Bank on Thursday reported a 28 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 5,070 crore for the March quarter, helped by a dip in provisions and a rise in non-core income.

The public sector bank had reported a net profit of Rs 3,951 crore in the year-ago period.

Its post-tax profit for FY25 rose to Rs 17,540 crore from Rs 15,279 crore in FY24.

Despite an 11 per cent loan growth, its core net interest income declined by 1.44 per cent to Rs 9,442 crore in the reporting quarter, hit by a 0.25 per cent narrowing in the net interest margin to 2.80 per cent.

The non-interest income grew by 21.74 per cent to Rs 6,351 crore during the reporting quarter, driven by a 30 per cent jump in recoveries from written-off accounts to Rs 2,471 crore and a 15 per cent increase in treasury income of Rs 995 crore.

The fresh slippages decreased to 2,655 crore, and the gross non-performing assets ratio improved to 2.94 per cent in March from 3.34 per cent three months ago.

The overall provisions declined to Rs 1,831 crore from Rs 2,483 crore a year ago, while the ones for NPAs increased to Rs 2,849 crore from Rs 2,282 crore.

In the year-ago period, it had set aside Rs 295 crore towards non-performing investments, while in the current fiscal, it had a write-back of Rs 1,334 crore, which helped.

Its managing director and chief executive Satyanarayana Raju said it is targeting a 10-11 per cent loan growth in FY26, while the deposit growth will also be maintained at over 9 per cent.

The bank will also aim to maintain the NIMs between 2.75-2.80 per cent in FY26, he said, adding that 44 per cent of its loan book is linked to the external benchmark, which gets repriced immediately after the RBI cuts the repo rate.

It is also aiming to further reduce the stock of gross NPAs to 2.50 per cent in the new fiscal, he added.

Overall capital adequacy stood at 16.39 per cent, including the core buffer at 12.09 per cent, and Raju said the bank board will meet early next month to consider a capital raising plan.

The Canara Bank scrip closed 1.84 per cent up at Rs 95.38 apiece on the BSE against a 0.51 per cent decline on the benchmark. PTI AA BAL BAL