Hyderabad: Public sector Canara Bank, which has reported a 21 percent decline in net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, Wednesday said it is confident of improving net interest margin (NIM) by 20 to 30 basis point for the next fiscal.
According to S Raman, Chairman and Managing Director, Canara Bank, there will be a significant growth in the credit off take in the next financial year, while it will remain flat in the current quarter.
"Higher deposit rates and fall in low-cost CASA (current and savings accounts) deposits also increased pressure on NIM as the customers preferred to migrate towards high-yielding term deposits," he said in a press conference here.
"There will be marginal improvement of NIM by 20 to 30 basis points to around 2.9 percent (in FY13) from 2.6-2.7 percent in the current fiscal," he added.
The Bangalore-based state-run lender expects a growth of 18-19 percent in the lending for FY 13 and 17 to 18 percent growth in deposits, he said.
Raman said the bank is against aggressive lending and would be cautious in its credit growth in order to maintain the asset quality.
According to him, the credit off take was subdued and capital expenditure in the system was quite insignificant so far in the current fiscal.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2012, 22:06