PNB Posts Rs 4, 532 Crore Loss In September Quarter As Bad Loans Soar

Fraud-hit Punjab National Bank today posted a staggering loss of Rs 4,532.35 crore for the second quarter ended September 2018 on rising bad loans.

The state-owned bank had a net profit of Rs 561 crore in the July-September quarter of last fiscal 2017-18. Its total income during the September quarter of 2018-19 declined to Rs 14,035.88 crore as against Rs 14,205.31 crore in the year-ago period, PNB said in a BSE filing.

The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a proportion of gross advances rose sharply to 17.16 per cent (Rs 81,250.83 crore) at the end of September 2018, from 13.31 per cent (Rs 57,630.11 crore) a year ago.

As a result, provision for bad loans nearly tripled to Rs 7,733.27 crore in the September quarter as against Rs 2,693.78 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. Shares of PNB were trading 1.01 per cent lower at Rs 73.50 apiece on the BSE.