Punjab National Bank (PNB) reported a third straight quarterly loss on Friday, as India's second-largest state lender by assets set aside more money to account for a massive fraud.
Net loss came in at Rs 45.32 billion ($622.74 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with a profit of 5.61 billion rupees a year earlier, the bank said in a statement.
The loss was much bigger than an estimated average loss of Rs 14.38 billion based on the views of 13 analysts, according to Refinitiv data.
PNB said earlier this year that staff at a Mumbai branch issued fake bank guarantees between 2011 and 2017 to help the firms of Indian diamond magnate Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi raise billions of dollars in foreign credit.