NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Improving CASA or low-cost deposit mobilisation is the focus area of ​​Canara Bank and the efforts made in this direction are bearing fruit, said its Managing Director K. Satyanarayana Raju.
“Current accounts (CASA) accounted for 31 percent of total deposits and the target is to increase this to 33 percent by the end of the current financial year,” he told PTI.
On the current account side, one cannot expect rapid growth and maintaining it in the long term is another challenge as companies tend to quickly convert it into time deposits, he said.
On savings, he said, “Our initiatives are starting to show results. One can see accumulation and creation of deposits. Year-on-year, June-on-June, there is an improvement of Rs 12,000 crore.”
The bank will continue to focus on individual savings bank deposits by introducing unique and innovative products, he added.
Regarding business growth, he said the bank had set a target of 10 percent for the current financial year, but in the first quarter, which ended in June, growth of 11 percent was recorded.
Credit growth is set at 10 percent, he said.
“I am very confident that we will grow beyond 11-12 percent in the next three quarters.”
The bank expects gross NPA to be around 3.5 percent and net NPA to be 1.10 percent of total loans by the end of the current financial year.
In the first quarter ended June, state-run Canara Bank reported a 10 percent rise in its net profit to Rs 3,905 crore from Rs 3,535 crore in the year-ago period.
During the quarter, the bank’s total income rose to Rs 34,020 crore from Rs 29,823 crore a year ago. Interest income rose to Rs 28,701 crore during the period as against Rs 25,004 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. (PTI)