Punjab National Bank (PNB) marches ahead of the country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank in terms of total business, though it witnessed lesser increase in profit during the quarter ended June 30.
Defying the impact of economic slowdown, several banks including HDFC Bank, Bank of India, Union Bank of India posted double-digit growth in profit.
However, many others have also reported jump in non-performing assets. These include PNB, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India and Union Bank of India.
In terms of total business, PNB clocked Rs 6.79 lakh crore much ahead of the its private sector peer ICICI Bank with a total business mix of Rs 5.36 lakh crore at the end of June 2012.
Thus, the difference between these two banks in terms of total business, which include deposits and loans, is about Rs 1.43 lakh crore at the end of first quarter.
PNB overtook ICICI Bank as the second largest bank in the country in March 2010 and has constantly increased margin.
The country's largest bank, State Bank of India is yet to declare its quarterly numbers.
However, total business of SBI stood at Rs 19.37 lakh crore at the end of March 2012.
Driven by increase in core interest income, ICICI Bank has made more profit at Rs 1,815 crore, registering a growth of 36% over the first quarter of the previous fiscal.
At the same time, the gross NPAs of ICICI Bank came down to 3.54% at the end of June 30 against 4.36% at the end of first quarter of the previous fiscal.
The closest competitor of ICICI Bank, PNB recorded 13% growth in net profit at Rs 1,246 crore in the first quarter even as gross NPA rose by over 1%.
The gross NPA of PNB as a proportion of advances went up significantly to 3.34% against 2% at the end of June last year. Net NPA also rose to 1.68% during the period from 0.86% in the same period of previous year.
Another public sector bank which recorded over 1% increase in gross NPA was Central Bank of India. The bank's gross NPA surged to 4.87% against 2.29% in the same period of the previous fiscal.
While profit of Canara Bank rose by 7% to Rs 775.28 crore at the end of the first quarter, the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 1.98% from 1.69% in the same quarter year-ago.
