Punjab National Bank (PNB) has pipped ICICI Bank to emerge as the second-largest bank in terms of the size of business.
With ICICI Bank going slow on lending and deciding to retire high-cost deposits, the size of its business fell to Rs 388,692 crore at the end of September 2009. The bank’s advances have dropped 14 per cent to Rs 190,860 crore in the quarter ended September this year from Rs 221,984.67 crore a year ago. During the period, the deposit base fell 11.45 per cent to Rs 1,97,832 crore, from Rs 223,401.72 crore a year ago.
| HOW TWO STACK UP Performance up to September (Rs cr) | |||
| 2008 | 2009 | % chng | |
| PNB | |||
| Deposits | 186,315 | 230,823 | 23.89x |
| Advances | 130,432 | 163,559 | 25.40 |
| Total business | 316,747 | 394,382 | 24.51 |
| ICICI Bank | |||
| Deposits | 223,401 | 197,832 | -11.45 |
| Advances | 221,984 | 190,860 | -14.02 |
| Total business | 445,386 | 388,692 | -12.73 |
| Source: banks | |||
In contrast, at the end of September 2009, PNB had a business of Rs 3,94,382 crore, 24.51 per cent more than the year-ago level of Rs 3,16,747 crore. The bank’s deposits grew 23.89 per cent to Rs 2,30,823 crore at the end of September, while advances rose 25.40 per cent to Rs 1,63,559 crore.
ICICI Bank had emerged as the country’s second-largest lender after a reverse merger with ICICI, the erstwhile development financial institution, at the start of the decade. While PNB Chairman and Managing Director K R Kamath refused to comment, ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar said, “In the current scenario, (along with deposits) you also have other borrowings; along with advances, you have investments. You should look at the balance-sheet size and we are still bigger.” At the end of September, ICICI Bank’s balance sheet was Rs 3,66,374, 35.3 per cent bigger than PNB’s Rs 2,70,788 crore.