Saturday, July 23 2005 19:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Canara Bank today (July 23, 2005) reported its net profit at Rs 186.90 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2005, down from Rs 336.44 crore posted during corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

The net profit had been arrived at after making a provision of Rs 373.40 crore, mainly comprising Rs 114.52 crore for NPA and depreciation on investments to the tune of Rs 188.42 crore, Bank Chairman and Managing Director M B N Rao told reporters in Bangalore.

"But for the additional depreciation on investments of Rs 134.90 crore over last year and provision of Rs 114.52 crore towards NPA's, the net profit would have been higher by Rs249.42 crore," he said.

"It is an excellent performance under current market conditions, "he added. Notwithstanding the subdued treasury earnings, a feature seen across the industry, the bank has done well in its core business and "is well set to met the targets set out for this financial", Rao said.

He said aggregate business grew year-on-year by 17.76 per cent to reach 1,57,926 crore compared to Rs 1,34,103 crore at the end of corresponding quarter of last year.

It comprised Rs 98,070 crore under deposits and Rs 59,856 crore under advances.

Rao said the net NPA ratio came down from 2.90 per cent a year ago to 1.67 per cent at June 2005.

Maintaining buoyancy in retail lending, disbursals during the first quarter aggregated to Rs 1266 crore, compared to Rs 905 crore during the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

On the Bank's future plans, Rao said 1,000 branches were planned to be brought under the Core Banking Solution in the next 12 months. Final touches were being given for its implementation.

Rao said the Bank had also geared itself up to implement a financial scheme for the SMEs.

The Bank planned aggregate business of Rs 1,82,000 crore by March 2006, he said.

The ATM strength of the bank was targeted to reach 1,000 by March 2006, he said.