Canara Bank Aims at Cash Recovery of Rs 6,500 Crore in 2014-15

New Delhi: Canara Bank on Saturday said it aims at cash recovery of Rs 6,500 crore this fiscal year which may result in lowering of non-performing assets (NPA).

"The bank did cash recovery of Rs 5,000 crore for the year ended March 2014, this year (2014-15) we expect this to go up to Rs 6,500 crore," chairman and managing director R K Dubey said at an event organised by Association of Business Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Gross NPAs of the state-owned lender stood at 2.67 per cent while net NPAs were 2.03 per cent of total advances at the end of June. In absolute terms, gross NPAs were Rs 8,159 crore.

Talking about farm loan waivers, he said this leads to rise in NPA of the banks as farmers of other states in anticipation of a waiver delay the loan payment.

In June, the bank's NPAs increased by Rs 400 crore due to farm debt waiver announced by states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Delay in repayment is now being faced in those states where assembly elections are due, he said, adding that the rise in defaults is being witnessed in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana.

During the recent assembly and general elections in Andhra Pradesh and the newly created Telangana, state leaders Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrashekhar Rao had promised farm loan waivers. While the quantum of affected farm loan in Andhra Pradesh is around Rs 87,000 crore, it is over Rs 40,000 crore in the new state.

On providing more autonomy to banks, Mr Dubey said he favoured implementation of P J Nayak Committee recommendations.