New Delhi: The tightened norms for recognising non-performing assets singed Punjab National Bank’s Jan-Mar earnings with the state-owned lender declaring one of the worst results ever. One of India’s largest lenders posted a massive net loss of Rs 5,367 crore during the quarter.
A three-fold surge in provisioning for bad loans, including for power discoms and Punjab foodgrain related loans, were the main drags on the bank’s performance and it expects the pain to continue for some more time.
The second-largest public sector bank had a net profit of Rs 306.56 crore in the same period of 2014-15. “We have done Asset Quality Review (AQR) fully… the bank has provided Rs 11,380 crore for bad loans during the quarter including Rs 385 crore for discoms,” PNB Managing Director Usha Ananthasubramanian said.
Dismissing Vijay Mallya’s offer of part payment of bank loans, Punjab National Bank said he must pay the full amount and settle the dues. PNB had an exposure of Rs 800 crore to Kingfisher Airlines.
Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) rose significantly to 12.9% at the end of March from 6.55 % a year ago. In absolute terms, gross NPAs nearly doubled to Rs 55,818 crore from the year-ago levels.
