PNB Q4 profit slumps 62% at Rs 306.5 cr on higher provisioning

Country's second largest public sector lender PNB today reported 62 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 306.5 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31 on account of higher provisioning for bad loans.
Punjab National Bank had logged in a profit of Rs 806.3 crore in the January-March quarter of the previous fiscal.
"The decline in profit is due to higher provisioning towards bad loans," PNB executive director Gauri Shankar said while announcing quarterly numbers which disappointed the market. PNB's share price fell 6.7 per cent to Rs 145.65.
Provision for NPAs rose by a whopping 87 per cent to Rs 3,281 crore in the fourth quarter of 2014-15 fiscal as compared to Rs 1,755 crore.

The decline in net profit is despite the fact that the bank had a write back of Rs 938 crore during the quarter. The fourth quarter profit in absolute terms is one of the lowest in past 5 years.
The bank has declared dividend of Rs 3.30 (or 165 per cent) per share of Rs 2 each for 2014-15.

Total income of the lender during the quarter increased by 7.7 per cent to Rs 13,455.65 crore during the quarter from Rs 12,498.23 crore in the same period last fiscal.
Interest income of the bank during the quarter under review rose by 4.9 per cent to Rs 11,651 crore against Rs 11,101 crore in same period a year ago.

However, the net interest income declined by 5.3 per cent at Rs 3,792 crore against Rs 4,002 crore in the same quarter of 2013-14.
As far as asset quality of the bank is concerned, the Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) rose to 6.55 per at the end of March 2015, from 5.25 per cent a year ago. The net NPAs too rose to 4.06 per cent against 2.85 per cent at March 2014.
The bank restructured assets worth Rs 15,241 crore during the quarter including bad loans of Rs 404 crore.
On an annual basis, net profit declined by 8.4 per cent at Rs 3,062 crore as compared to Rs 3,343 crore an year ago, he said.

Total income of the bank during the year rose to Rs 52,206.09 crore against Rs 47,799.96 crore in the previous fiscal.
At the same time, the net interest income for the entire fiscal rose marginally by 2.5 per cent to Rs 16,556 crore against Rs 16,146 crore a year ago.
Total provisions of the bank during the fiscal rose by 10.6 per cent to Rs 8,893 crore, compared to Rs 8,042 crore in the same period a year ago.