PNB sequentially doubles Q2 profit to Rs 620.8 crore, NII grows 24%

Public sector undertaking Punjab National Bank, on November 2, sequentially doubled its net profit to Rs 620.8 crore in the September quarter despite elevated provisions, supported by net interest income and pre-provision operating profit (PPoP).

The profit in the June quarter stood at Rs 308.5 crore.

Net interest income - the difference between interest earned and interest expended - increased 24.4 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 8,393.2 crore in Q2FY21.

Numbers were ahead of a CNBC-TV18 poll estimates which was pegged at Rs 417.2 crore for profit and Rs 6,718 crore for net interest income.

In case of asset quality, gross non-performing assets as a percentage of gross advances declined to 13.43 percent in Q2FY21, from 14.11 percent in previous quarter, while net NPA dropped to 4.75 percent from 5.39 percent in the same period.

Provisions and contingencies remained elevated at Rs 4,696.15 crore for the quarter ended September 2020, compared to Rs 4,685.89 crore in the June quarter.

Provisions included contingent provision of Rs 180 crore in respect of accounts that were not classified as NPA till August 2020 and COVID-19 provision of Rs 995.31 crore.

Non-interest income fell sharply by 32.4 percent sequentially to Rs 2,492.72 crore, but pre-provision operating profit (PPoP) rose 7.5 percent to Rs 5,674.91 crore QoQ in the quarter ended September 2020.