INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Scam-hit Punjab National Bank posted a ₹4,532 crore loss for the quarter to September due to a sharp increase in provisioning
The Delhi-based lender had reported a profit of ₹560 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Bank’s share closed 7% down at ₹69.05 on the
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Friday, a day when the banking sector barometer, the Bankex, gained over 1%
The exchange’s benchmark index, the Sensex, closed 1.68% up.
PNB’s managing director Sunil Mehta, however, expressed hope that the bank
will be in the black by the end of this fiscal and that they have front loaded provisioning requirements.
PNB increased provisions to
₹9,757 crore up from ₹5,758 crore in the previous quarter, setting aside ₹7,773 crore for bad loans as against ₹4,982 crore in the
previous quarter.
The provision coverage ratio saw an increase to 67% as of end September from 59% last year.
The bank has now posted losses
in the last three quarters
Post Nirav Modi scam, it had posted a staggering loss of ₹13,416.91 crore for the fourth quarter 2017-18, the biggest ever by any domestic
lender.
By July 2018, the bank had made provisions of ₹9,041.88 crore against the loss of around ₹15,000 crore in the scam
The bank said it has made provisions of ₹3,295.12 crore during the September quarter.
The remaining provision will be made during the next
quarter of the current financial year as per terms of RBI’s dispensation, it said
PNB’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 10.08% at the end of the September quarter compared with 9.62% at the end of the yearago quarter.
