Punjab National Bank net rises 13% on better loan recoveries

A lower provisioning and better efforts on the bad loan recoveries front helped Punjab National Bank (PNB) report a 13.53 percent increase in net profit for the third quarter ended December 2012 at Rs 1306 crore (Rs 1150 crore).

The country’s second largest public sector lender by assets had reported a net profit of Rs 1,066 crore in second quarter.

Buoyed by the strong third quarter performance, PNB’s shares closed 10.24 per cent higher on Thursday at Rs 919 on the National Stock Exchange.

K.R. Kamath, Chairman and Managing Director, PNB, expressed confidence of surpassing last year’s net profit of Rs 4,884 crore during the current fiscal given the growth trend in net profits so far.

For the nine-month period ended December 31, PNB has recorded a net profit of Rs 3,617 crore (Rs 3,460 crore).

On lower provisions for the quarter under review, Kamath said that the reduction in provision has come on account of the bank’s ability to contain incremental slippage.

The banks’ restructured book, however, grew by about 2,500 crore during the third quarter.

Usha Ananthasubramanian, Executive Director, PNB, later attributed the better all-round performance in the December quarter to improved activities at the field level, especially in terms of increased focus on recoveries

Meanwhile, the asset liability committee of PNB today decided to reduce the base rate (the rate below which lending will not be done) to 10.25 per cent from 10.50 per cent earlier.

Srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in


Source: thehindubusinessline