Punjab & Sind Bank Q4 net down 13%

New Delhi: State-owned Punjab & Sind Bank today reported 12.75 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 130.2 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2011 on account of increase in provisioning for bad debts and pension. The bank had a net profit of Rs 149.1 crore in the corresponding quarter of the .

Total income of the bank rose by 20.8 per cent to Rs 1,485.5 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, from Rs 1,229.6 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

At the same time net interest income of the bank has improved to Rs 393 crore during the quarter against Rs 328 crore in the same period a year ago.

"The board of the bank for the first time after a gap of six years has recommended a dividend of 20 per cent," PSB Executive Director P K Anand told reporters here.

Giving details of the provisioning made during the quarter, he said the bank made a provision of Rs 160 crore against the second pension option and gratuity and against NPA and others was Rs 70 crore.

However, the net interest margin (NIM) of the bank improved to 2.66 per cent at the end of fourth quarter compared to 2.45 per cent at the end of March 2010.

Asked about NIM outlook, Anand said the bank would aim to further improve it to 3 per cent in 2011-12.

For the entire fiscal ended March 31, 2011, the net profit of the bank rose marginally by 3.5 per cent to Rs 526.1 crore from Rs 508.8 crore recorded in the previous fiscal.

Total income improved to Rs 5,369.5 crore from from Rs 4,345.9 crore in 2009-10.

During the year the bank made provision of 162 crore for bad assets against Rs 91 crore in the previous fiscal.

Total business of the bank as on March 31, crossed Rs 1,02,555 crore from Rs 81,894 crore at end of 2009-10, registering a growth of 25.23 per cent.

As far as asset quality of the bank is concerned, the gross NPAs as a percentage to total advances rose to 0.99 per cent for the entire fiscal, while net NPAs was 0.56 per cent at the end of fourth quarter.

Deposits rose 21.5 per cent to Rs 59,723 crore by end March, while advances jumped 30.8 per cent to Rs 42,833 crore.

Anand said the bank expects to clock 28 per cent increase in advances while deposits likely to grow at 30 per cent in 2011-12.

Source: Financial Express