- Net Interest Income (NII) increases to ₹11,032 crore in Q3 FY25 from ₹10,293 crore in Q3 FY24, showing an improvement of 7.2 per cent
- The bank aims to double its recovery target to about ₹1,600 crore in the fourth quarter
- Total business of the bank grows by 15.25 per cent to ₹26,39,991 crore from ₹22,90,742 crore
NE BUSINESS BUREAU
NEW DELHI, FEB 3
Public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday posted more than twofold jump in net profit at ₹4,508 crore for the third quarter ended December 2024 aided by decline in bad loans and increase in core income.
The bank had earned a net profit of ₹2,223 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Total income increased to ₹34,752 crore from ₹29,962 crore in the same period a year ago, PNB said in a virtual press conference.
Interest income also rose to ₹31,340 crore from ₹27,288 crore in the third quarter of previous fiscal.
Net Interest Income (NII) increased to ₹11,032 crore in Q3 FY25 from ₹10,293 crore in Q3 FY24, showing an improvement of 7.2 per cent, PNB MD and CEO Ashok Chandra said during a media interaction.
On the asset quality front, the bank’s gross non-performing assets ratio moderated to 4.09 per cent from 6.24 per cent a year ago.
Similarly, net NPAs, or bad loans, came down to 0.41 per cent from 0.96 per cent at the end of the third quarter last fiscal.
As a result, provisions for bad loans came down significantly to ₹318 crore during the quarter from ₹2,994 crore a year ago.
There was also a provision write-back of ₹285 crore during the quarter, in comparison to the provision of ₹288 crore in the September quarter. Against NPAs, provisions stood at ₹317 crore from ₹199 crore last quarter.
PNB’s asset quality improved on a sequential basis. Gross NPA stood at 4.09% from 4.48% in the previous quarter, while net NPA stood at 0.41% from 0.46% last quarter.
With regard to recovery from the technically written off account, Chandra said the bank aims to double its recovery target to about ₹1,600 crore in the fourth quarter.
During the third quarter, he said, the bank had done recovery of ₹823 crore.
Net Interest Margin is expected to be in the range of 2.9-3 per cent during the current financial year.
Provision Coverage Ratio (including Technically Written Off) improved to 96.77 per cent as on December 31, 2024 from 94.28 per cent a year ago. Total business of the bank grew by 15.25 per cent to ₹26,39,991 crore from ₹22,90,742 crore.
Deposits registered a growth of 15.58 per cent to ₹15,29,699 crore while advances increased by 14.79 per cent to ₹11,10,292 crore as on December 31, 2024.
Capital Adequacy Ratio also increased to 15.41 per cent as against 14.63 per cent in December 2023.
