Punjab National Bank (PNB) has registered a net profit of Rs 3,010 crore in the quarter ending March 2024 (Q4 FY24) showing an increase of 35.4 per cent from the previous quarter where the net profit stood at Rs 2,223 crore.
During the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), net profit rose to Rs 8,245 crore recording a robust growth of 228.8 per cent against Rs 2,507 crore posted during FY23.
The Board of Directors have recommended a dividend of Rs 1.50 per equity share (75 per cent) for the year ended 31 March 2024 subject to requisite approvals.
Net Interest Income (NII) increased to Rs 10,363 crore in Q4 FY24 from Rs 10,293 crore in Q3 FY24 and Rs 9,499 crore in Q4 FY23 showing an improvement of 9.1 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. During FY24, NII rose by 16.2 per cent to Rs 40,083 crore from Rs 34,492 crore in FY23.
Operating Profit increased by 9.4 per cent on a YoY basis to Rs 6,416 crore in Q4 FY24 from Rs 6,331 crore in Q3 FY24 and Rs 5,866 Cr in Q4 FY23. Operating Profit rose by 10.7 per cent to Rs 24,931 crore in FY24 from Rs 22529 crore in FY23.
“The current accounts and savings account deposits have grown to Rs 5,52,499 crore in FY 24 from Rs 5,38,015 crore in FY23 which is an increase of 2.7 per cent. The total term deposits have grown to Rs 8,17,213 crore from Rs 7,43,148 crore which is an increase of 10 per cent,” said Atul Kumar Goel, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Punjab National Bank.
The total write-offs in the last financial year had been Rs 16,578 crore, the numbers have been almost similar this year also with write-offs at Rs 16,257 crore.
In an interaction with BW Businessworld, Goel said, “The slippages in this financial year have been Rs 5,552 crore which was Rs 14,198 crore last year. The slippage ratio improved YoY by 159 bps to 0.72 per cent in FY24 from 2.31 per cent in FY23. We have focussed on our recovery process and we have adopted multiple methods to decrease our slippages. One of these methods is where our recovery personnel do a timely reminder of the due instalments on a case-by-case basis which has helped us reduce slippages significantly.”
The gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio improved by 301 bps on a YoY basis to 5.73 per cent as of March 2024 from 8.74 per cent as of March 2023. Net NPA ratio improved by 199 bps from 2.72 per cent as of March 2023 to 0.73 per cent as of March 2024. Provision Coverage Ratio improved by 849 bps on a YoY basis to 95.39 per cent as of March 2024. Provision Coverage Ratio improved by 171 bps to 87.9 per cent from 70.8 per cent in March 2023.
The financial statement shows that the personal loan was Rs 20,696 crore in Q3 FY24 which grew a tad to Rs 20,766 crore in Q4 FY24.
“The total gold loan including agriculture and retail in Q3 FY24 has been Rs 6,825 crore which was Rs 1,478 crore in agricultural gold loan a year ago,” said Goel. This is a growth of 323 per cent in the gold loans on a YoY basis in agricultural gold loans.
The RBI had relaxed the permissible loan-to-value (LTV) for loans against gold ornaments for non-agricultural purposes to 90 per cent from 75 per cent in August 2020, but this relaxation was only available until 31 March 2021.
“The retail, agriculture and MSME (RAM) advances have grown from Rs 4,69,981 in Q3 FY23 to Rs 5,20,050 in Q4 FY24 which is an increase of 10.7 per cent. RAM is one of our key areas of focus,” Goel emphasised.