Bangalore-headquartered Canara Bank is looking to sell bad assets worth ₹900 crore by the second quarter (ending September) of this fiscal. According to its Chairman and Managing Director RK Dubey, this will be the third straight quarter when the bank will opt for sale of bad assets.
In the April-June quarter this year, the bank sold non-performing assets (NPAs) worth ₹600 crore, and in the January-March quarter, around ₹1,300 crore.
“Our aim is to bring down Gross NPAs to 2 per cent; and Net NPAs to 1.5 per cent by the end of this fiscal,” he told newspersons on the sidelines of a Banking Conclave organised by FICCI(Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
Last fiscal, bank’s Gross NPAs stood at 2.49 per cent and Net NPAs at 1.98 per cent.
Foreign branches Dubey said Canara Bank is planning to set up at least eight new overseas branches by the end of this fiscal — three in the UK (at Kingsbury, East Ham and Birmingham) and one each in Tanzania, Japan, Dubai, Brazil and Frankfurt.
“We have got RBI approvals to have overseas branches, and, we are in discussion with the respective countries. By the end of this year, we are planning to set up the branches,” he said.
Currently, Canara Bank has branches in Hong Kong, Moscow, Panama, Shanghai, Bahrain; and two in the UK — London and Leister. It recently set up branches in Johannesburg (South Africa) and New York. It has a representative office in Sharjah. Meanwhile, the bank is looking to raise around ₹3,000 crore through qualified institutional placements. The QIP is expected any time next month.
This apart, the bank is also expecting capital infusion of ₹500 crore from the Centre.
DCHL dues Canara Bank is yet to recover its dues from Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL). The bank’s exposure in the company is to the tune of ₹350 crore. “Legal things are going on. The CBI case is also progressing. At the moment, there is no recovery,” Dubey said.