PNB net down 20% to Rs 288.67 crore

Punjab National Bank's (PNB) net profit for January-March 2006 declined by 20 per cent to Rs 288.67 crore compared with Rs 360.63 crore in the quarter ended March 2005.

"The bank has provided Rs 600 crore as depreciation to mark-to-market its investments in the fourth quarter. A total of Rs 891 crore was provided as depreciation on investments in 2005-06, " said S C Gupta, chairman, PNB. Of the bank's total investment of Rs 42,500 crore, 60 per cent is held in the Asset For Sale (AFS) category.

The bank's operating profit for the quarter grew by 95.4 per cent to Rs 998.27 crore compared with Rs 510.97 crore in the quarter ended March 2005.

For the year 2005-06, PNB's net profit grew marginally by 2.1 per cent to Rs 1439.31 crore as against Rs 1410.12 crore in the previous year.

This is after providing for necessary provisions of Rs 1,435 crore towards income tax, wealth tax, NPAs, depreciation and advances in 2005-06 as against Rs 994 crore in the previous year.

The bank's board has proposed a final dividend of 30 per cent for 2005-06 in addition to the 30 per cent interim dividend paid earlier during the year.

It's total income for 2005-06 grew by 6.7 per cent to Rs 10,815 crore as against Rs 10,136 crore in the previous year.

The interest income during the year grew by 13.3 per cent to Rs 9,584 crore as compared with Rs 8,460 crore in 2004-05. The non-interest income comprising commission, exchange and brokerage grew by 8.9 per cent to Rs 753 crore as compared with Rs 691 crore during last year.

PNB's total expenses excluding provisions grew by 2.7 per cent to Rs 7,941 crore with the interest expenses growing by 10.4 per cent and the non interest expenses declining by 7.8 per cent during the year.

The net interest margin stood at 4 per cent in March 2006 compared with 3.87 per cent in March 2005 while the return on assets declined to 1.09 per cent as on 31 March 2006 as compared with 1.17 per cent as on 31 March 2005.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at 11.95 per cent as on 31 March 2006 against 14.78 per cent at the end March last year.

The bank's advances grew by 23.5 per cent to Rs 74,627 crore while its deposits grew by 16.01 per cent to Rs 1,19,685 crore in 2005-06. The cost of deposits stood at 4.32 per cent while the yield on advances stood at 8.31 per cent.