PNB Q4 profit jumps over 5-fold to Rs 1,159 cr

New Delhi: Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday reported over five-fold jump in its net profit to Rs 1,159 crore for the March 2023 quarter, helped by lower bad loans and a rise in interest income. The state-owned bank had earned a standalone net profit of Rs 202 crore in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, the bank's total income increased to Rs 27,269 crore from Rs 21,095 crore a year ago, PNB said in a regulatory filing. Interest income grew to Rs 23,849 crore during the period under review against Rs 18,645 crore in the year-ago period.

Interest income grew to Rs 23,849 crore during the period under review against Rs 18,645 crore in the year-ago period. Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) were reduced to 8.74 percent of gross advances as of March 31 from 11.78 percent by the end of March 2022. Net NPAs also came down to 2.72 percent of the advances from 4.8 percent at the end of 2022.

The fall in the bad loans ratio helped cut the provisions towards NPAs for Q4FY23 to Rs 3,625 crore compared to Rs 4,564 crore a year ago. However, the bank reported a 27 percent decline in net profit for the entire financial year 2022-23 to Rs 2,507 crore against Rs 3,457 crore in the same period a year ago.

"The board recommended a Dividend of Rs 0.65 per equity share (32.5 percent) of face value of Rs 2 each for FY 2022-23, subject to declaration/approval of the shareholders at the ensuing 22nd Annual General Meeting of the Bank," said the filing

Further, the board also "approved raising of equity capital by way of issue of up to 15 crore new equity shares of the face value of Rs 2 each to the employees of the Bank through an 'Employees Stock Purchase Scheme', subject to the approval of the shareholders at the ensuing 22nd Annual General Meeting of the Bank and other regulatory approvals."

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