There were times when public sector banks were bloated with big NPAs and losses were dragging their balance and sucking shareholder equity. In the past few years, a turnaround has happened through the government's initiatives and reforms, including a huge equity infusion to clean up the balance sheet and make the board stronger to set tighter and higher standards. PSB's reported cumulative profit in India was Rs. 1.4 lakh crore as of FY24, a 35% increase from the previous year.

One of the PSUs with more than Rs 10,000 crore in annual profit has been in the news because of corporate actions and dividends. Canara Bank, which has experienced a significant rally over the past year, the stock outperformed Nifty Bank by 15% and the broader Nifty by around 25%. On the event of announcing the quarterly result, the board approved the sub-division of its equity shares of Rs 10 into five shares with a face value of Rs 2 each (1:5 ratio), aiming to improve liquidity and make the shares more affordable for retail investors along with a dividend. A stock split involves splitting existing shares into smaller face values to improve liquidity on the counter without impacting share capital. The government owned a 62.93% stake in the lender at the end of the March quarter. Today, on May 15, 2024, the stock split went ex-date, changing the face value from ₹10 to ₹2 per share with a split ratio of 5:1. This means if you hold 1 share of the company of ₹10 face value, you will receive 5 shares of ₹2 each after the split.

Canara Bank recommended a dividend of Rs. 16.10 per equity share, which is 161% of the face value of Rs. 10 each, to the shareholders for the years 2023–24, subject to the approval of the shareholders at the ensuing annual general meeting of the bank. Record Date for payment of Dividend will be Monday, 17th June 2024.

In the latest quarter, the bank posted 18% growth in standalone net profit at Rs 3,757 crore for the quarter against Rs 3,174 crore YoY. Its net interest income (NII) grew 11% YoY to Rs 9,580 crore. Banks' credit costs fell by 21 basis points from 0.96% a year ago. The gross non-performing assets ratio declined to 4.233% from 4.39% sequentially. Net NPAs, or bad loans, came down to 1.32% from 1.96% at the end of the third quarter of the previous fiscal. The Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) has improved by 179 bps to 89.10%.