State-owned Canara Bank on Monday reported a 74 per cent jump in March quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 3,336.51 crore, helped by higher core income and lower provisions.

The Bangalore-based lender had reported a net profit of Rs 1,918.80 crore in the year-ago period.

For FY2023, post-tax profit grew to Rs 11,254.75 crore from Rs 6,124.83 crore in FY2022.

In the latest March quarter, the lender’s core net interest income grew 23 per cent to Rs 8,617 crore. This was due to a 17 per cent growth in advances and a 0.14 per cent expansion in the net interest margin to 3.07 per cent.

Other income grew 7 per cent to Rs 4,776 crore but was also hit by a 72 per cent decline in the treasury income.

Canara Bank’s managing director and chief executive K. Satyanarayana Raju said the bank will aim to grow its overall loan book in double-digit in FY24, and denied it being a moderation, saying the lender believes in over-delivering.

Raju said the bank registered a corporate loan book expansion of over 20 per cent in FY23 and has a sizeable pipeline of loans in various sectors such as infrastructure where it is witnessing a healthy demand.

According to him, loans worth Rs 22,000 crore have been sanctioned for various projects that are yet to start.

Contrary to some sections of the industry, which is witnessing an impact in home loan demand due to the rising interest rates, Raju said the bank is not experiencing any such trend and is aiming to better the 14 per cent growth observed in FY23.

Exide net at Rs 181cr

Battery maker Exide Industries on Monday posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 181 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023.

The company had logged a net profit of Rs 3,953 crore in the year-ago period, boosted by one-time income on account of the sale of its subsidiary Exide Life Insurance Company Ltd.

Revenue from operations rose to Rs 3,677 crore in January-March 2023 from Rs 3,523 crore in the year-ago period.

For the year ended March 31, 2023, the company reported a net profit of Rs 823 crore. It stood at Rs 4,357 crore in FY22 on account of the sale of the subsidiary. Revenue from operations stood at Rs 15,078 crore as against Rs 12,789 crore in FY22.

The company said its board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 2 per equity share of the face value of Re 1 each for 2022-23.