PNB shares shed nearly 14% over record loss

A view of the Punjab National Bank (PNB ) at the Parliament Street in New Delhi

A view of the Punjab National Bank (PNB ) at the Parliament Street in New Delhi   | Photo Credit: R.V._Moorthy

This comes a day after the bank posted its biggest ever quarterly loss of ₹13,416 crore

Shares of Punjab National Bank (PNB) lost nearly 14% during the morning trading session on Wednesday, a day after .

On BSE, the shares of the public sector lender were trading 12.03% or ₹10.35 lower at ₹75.65 at 10:40 a.m. Earlier in the day it touched a low of ₹74.30, a fall of 13.61% compared to the previous day's close of ₹86.

On Tuesday, scam-hit PNB reported a ₹13,416 crore loss in the fourth quarter of 2017-18, compared with a ₹262 crore profit a year earlier.

A significant reason for the large loss was the rise in provisions to ₹20,353.1 crore in the quarter ended March, compared with ₹5,753.51 crore a year earlier, according to the bank’s filing with the stock exchanges.

PNB’s gross non-performing assets grew to ₹86,620.05 crore in the quarter from ₹55,370.45 crore in the same period of the previous year, and ₹57,519.41 crore in the quarter ended December 2017. Hence, gross NPA ratio rose to 18.38% in the quarter ended March , from 12.53% a year earlier.

Regarding the bank’s liabilities due to the Nirav Modi scam, the bank said: “The liabilities on account of LOUs/FLCs which became due up to March 31, 2018 amounting to ₹6,586.11 crore have been paid by the Bank on the undertaking of banks concerned that they will reimburse the amount to the bank if the court of competent jurisdiction or an investigation agency under Indian laws finds such LOCs/FLC, to have been issued pursuant to the knowledge of the alleged fraud or collusion in the alleged fraud by any existing or past officials/employees of the concerned banks.”

Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex was trading at 35,294.23, down 250 points or 0.69% at 10:40 a.m.