New Delhi: State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) staged a comeback by registering a net profit of Rs 1,019 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal due to fall in bad loan provisions as asset quality improved. The bank had posted a net loss of Rs 940 crore in the corresponding April-June period of the previous fiscal 2018-19. Sequentially, the bank had suffered a huge loss of Rs 4,750 crore in the fourth quarter of the preceding fiscal ended March 2019. As a result, the Delhi headquartered lender had posted a net loss of Rs 9,975.49 crore in 2018-19.
"The bank has booked a net profit of Rs 1,019 crore during this quarter. During the last quarterly results, we had said that the worst was behind us and we will do better in the coming quarters. "We have introduced major changes, the bank has done a lot in improving our system and processes so as to bring in stability into our business results and to bring in stability in our asset quality," its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sunil Mehta said. Total income of the bank rose to Rs 15,161.74 crore during the June quarter of 2019-20, as against Rs 15,072.41 crore in the year-ago period.
Efforts such as the centralised loan processing system, robust stressed asset management and improved monitoring systems have started reaping results, Mehta said. It improved on its asset quality as the gross NPAs fell to 16.49% of the gross advances at the end of June.
