State-owned Canara Bank on Monday reported a 75 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 3,535 crore for the June quarter, helped by a decline in bad loans and growth in interest income.

 The Bengaluru-based lender had posted a net profit of Rs 2,022 crore in the year-ago period.

 Total income in the first quarter of the current fiscal rose to Rs 29,828 crore from Rs 23,352 crore in the same period a year ago, Canara Bank said in a regulatory filing.

 Interest earned by the bank rose to Rs 25,004 crore from Rs 18,177 crore in the year-ago period.

 Net Interest Income (NII) increased 28 per cent to Rs 8,666 crore in the latest June quarter compared to the same period a year ago.

 The Net Interest Margin (NIM) also improved to 3.05 per cent as compared to 2.78 per cent in the year-ago period.

 Canara Bank Managing Director K Satyanarayana Raju said he expects NIM to be above 3 per cent during the year.

 The bank's asset quality showed improvement as gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) declined to 5.15 per cent of gross advances at the end of the June quarter. It stood at 6.98 per cent in the year-ago period.

 Similarly, net NPAs or bad loans declined to 1.57 per cent as against 2.48 per cent in the year-ago period.

 As a result, the provision for bad loans came down to Rs 2,418 crore as against Rs 2,673 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

 The bank's Capital Adequacy Ratio increased to 16.24 per cent as compared to 14.91 per cent at the end of June 2022.

 Pursuant to proposed bipartite agreement in wage revision, which is effective from November 2022, an estimated provision of Rs 344.69 crore has been made for the quarter ended June 30, it said.

 About loan growth, Raju said the bank expects a 10.5 per cent credit growth and an 8.5 per cent increase in deposits in the current financial year.