PNB Q2 profit up 2% at Rs 561 cr

Punjab National Bank (PNB) registered a marginal increase of 2.2% in net profit to Rs 561 crore for the September quarter of the current fiscal, as it trimmed bad loans and contained slippages.

The PSU bank had a net profit of Rs 549 crore in the July-September quarter of last fiscal 2016-17.

The bank's gross NPAs as a proportion of gross advances came down to 13.31% (Rs 57,630.11 crore) at the end of September, from 13.63% (Rs 56,465.63 crore) a year ago.

"The gross NPAs, if you have seen the trend in the industry, almost every bank has shown increase in gross NPAs. But our bank contained it and we are below the March level. Our fresh slippages have considerably gone down by more than Rs 3,000 crore during this quarter," PNB MD and CEO Sunil Mehta said.

The fresh slippages in September last year were over Rs 11,000 crore, but now they are a little over Rs 8,000 crore, he said.

The net NPAs also came down to 8.44% of the net advances by September-end this year, from against 9.10% a year ago. In absolute terms, the net NPAs stood at Rs 34,570.15 crore, compared with Rs 35,722.32 crore. However, the bank's provisions for bad loans rose to Rs 2,693.78 crore for the quarter under review, as against Rs 1,954.13 crore in the year-ago period.

The total income of the bank increased to Rs 14,205.31 crore during the July-September quarter of 2017-18 as against Rs 13,638.64 crore in the year-ago period.

Operating profit of the bank grew by 20% to Rs 3,279 crore during the quarter under review from Rs 2,732 crore in same period a year ago.

Mehta said the bank will sell its non-core assets as and when the market conditions are suitable and as of now it is adequately capitalised.