Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Saturday reported its highest ever quarterly standalone profit at ₹3,252 crore in April-June FY25 helped by decline in bad loans and improvement in interest income.
The state-owned bank had posted a net profit of ₹1,255 crore in June quarter FY24.
This is the highest ever quarterly profit recorded by the bank on account of improvement in various parameters, including net interest income, recovery and CASA, Managing Director Atul Kumar Goel said.
Total income in the quarter rose to ₹32,166 crore from ₹28,579 crore in the same period a year ago.
The lender’s interest income also increased to ₹28,556 crore from ₹25,145 crore in the same quarter a year ago, as per a regulatory filing.
Net Interest Income (NII) increased to ₹10,476 crore in Q1 FY25 from ₹9,504 crore earlier, showing an improvement of 10.23 per cent.
Gross Non Performing Assets (NPAs) declined to 4.98 per cent of gross advances by June 2024 from 7.73 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.
Similarly, net NPAs declined to 0.60 per cent from 1.98 per cent.
As a result, provisions for bad loans came down drastically to ₹792 crore in April-June FY25 as against ₹4,374 crore in the year-ago period.
Provision Coverage Ratio improved to 95.9 per cent as of June 2024 from 89.83 per cent a year ago.
On a consolidated basis, the bank reported a net profit of ₹3,976 crore in the quarter under review as against ₹1,342 crore a year ago.
The consolidated financial result of the bank comprises five subsidiaries and 15 associates.
The capital adequacy ratio of the bank improved to 15.79 per cent at the end of June 2024 compared to 15.54 per cent in the year-ago period.
With improvement in capital position, Goel said, the bank has decided to cut the proposed share sale size through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) to ₹5,000 crore from an earlier estimate of ₹7,500 crore.
Asked when the capital will be raised, he said the bank is evaluating the opportune time for that.
Besides, he said, the board has given approval to raise ₹7,000 crore from Tier I bonds and ₹3,000 crore from Tier II bonds to fund business growth.
As far as recovery is concerned, he said, the bank is targeting ₹18,000 crore collection from this including from NCLT realisation.
“We are hoping recovery of ₹3,000 crore from NCLT cases,” he said.
During the quarter, he said, slippages were ₹1,755 crore against recovery of ₹3,249 crore.
Going forward, the bank is aiming net NPA of less than 0.5 per cent, gross NPA of less than 4 per cent and Return on Asset of 1 per cent by March.
As far as business growth is concerned, he said, credit growth is estimated at 11-12 per cent while deposit 9-10 per cent and Net Interest Margin at 2.9-3 per cent.
Low cost fund Current Account and Savings Account (CASA) deposit would increase to 42 per cent from the current level of 40.08 per cent of total deposits, he added.
On improving its digital competitiveness, he said, PNB has earmarked ₹2,500 crore to be spent on IT.
