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Punjab National Bank on Monday reported its highest-ever quarterly profit, posting a 13 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 5,100 crore for the October-December quarter, driven by a significant improvement in asset quality.
The country's second-largest public sector lender earned Rs 4,508 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Managing Director and CEO Ashok Chandra said the bank is targeting quarterly profits exceeding Rs 5,000 crore going forward. The bank's total income grew to Rs 37,253 crore from Rs 34,752 crore year-on-year, while interest income climbed to Rs 32,231 crore from Rs 31,340 crore, according to a regulatory filing. However, Net Interest Income declined 4.5 per cent to Rs 10,533 crore in the third quarter from Rs 11,032 crore in the same period last year. Operating profit rose to Rs 7,481 crore compared to Rs 6,621 crore in the year-ago quarter. The bank's asset quality showed marked improvement, with gross non-performing assets falling to 3.19 per cent from 4.09 per cent. Net NPAs also declined to 0.32 per cent from 0.41 per cent. Despite the improvement, provisions for bad loans increased three-fold to Rs 1,341 crore from Rs 318 crore. Chandra explained that Rs 955 crore represented additional provisioning to meet Expected Credit Loss guidelines taking effect from April 2027. Recoveries from technically written-off accounts doubled to Rs 1,956 crore from Rs 823 crore, primarily due to recovery in one large account. The bank's Provision Coverage Ratio improved to 96.99 per cent from 96.77 per cent. Total business grew 9.5 per cent to Rs 28.91 lakh crore, with deposits rising 8.5 per cent to Rs 16.60 lakh crore and advances growing 10.9 per cent to Rs 12.31 lakh crore. Return on Assets improved to 1.06 per cent from 1.03 per cent, while the Capital Adequacy Ratio strengthened to 16.77 per cent from 15.41 per cent. For the nine-month period, PNB reported a net profit of Rs 11,679 crore compared to Rs 12,063 crore in the previous year. (ANI)
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