NEW DELHI : State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday reported a net loss of ₹492.28 crore in the quarter ended December, against a profit of ₹246.51 crore a year ago, having made higher provisioning for bad loans. The lender had posted a profit of ₹507.05 crore for the preceding three months, but provisions for bad loans in October-December jumped 73.2% year-on-year to ₹4,445.36 crore.
Fresh slippages more than doubled to ₹6,783 crore in October-December, compared to the year-ago period. However, on a sequential basis, it declined 9% from ₹7,462 crore.
“During the quarter, the bank had availed dispensation for deferment of provision in respect of frauds amounting to ₹238.84 crore…Accordingly, an amount of ₹59.71 crore has been charged to profit and loss account during the quarter and ₹179.13 crores has been deferred to subsequent quarters," PNB informed the exchanges on Tuesday.
“Further, out of the un-amortized amount of ₹2,284.32 crore up to quarter ended September 2019 an amount of ₹887.57 crore has been charged to profit and loss account during the quarter and remaining amount of ₹1,396.75 crore has been carried forward to subsequent quarters," it added.
Despite higher provisioning, the lender’s asset quality improved in October-December. Net non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to 7.18% from 8.22% a year-ago, while gross NPAs remained flat at 16.30%, from 16.33% a year-ago. PNB’s provisioning coverage ratio (PCR)—the amount set aside to cover NPAs—increased to 75.27% as of December-end, from 68.85% a year-ago.
Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and expended, stood at ₹4,355 crore in the three months ended December, an increase of 1.5% from the year-ago period, while its other income increased by almost one-third to ₹2,405 crore. Net interest margin, a key measure of profitability, declined by 19 basis points sequentially to 2.36%. Its capital adequacy ratio under Basel III norms stood at 14.4%, from 10.52% a year-ago. The lender’s domestic deposits increased 9.4% year-on-year to ₹6.89 trillion as of December 2019.
The bank’s exposure to sensitive sectors, such as non- banking financial companies, increased to ₹43,026 crore in October-December from ₹39,744 crore a year-ago. Out of this, the lender has an exposure of ₹17,3156 crore in the quarter ended December, up from 92.2% in the year-ago period, to stressed housing finance companies (HFCs).
Shares of PNB closed at ₹56.90 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), down 0.96% from the previous day’s close, while the benchmark Sensex ended at 40,789.38 points, up 2.3%.
