Punjab National Bank (PNB) has reported a 21.3 per cent increase in its net profit to Rs 562.39 crore during 2001-02, compared with Rs 463.64 crore in the previous financial.
The bank's EPS rose to Rs 26.50 a share at the end of March this year as against Rs 21.85 per share at the end of the March 2001. PNB chairman and managing director S S Kohli said the bank will pay a dividend of 30 per cent for 2001-02 as against 25 per cent in the previous financial year.
The bank's gross profit rose 56 per cent to Rs 1,473.80 crore at the end of March this year (Rs 945.21 crore). "The major gain was from banking activities and not from treasury operations," Kohli said. Profit from treasury operations during 2001-02 were estimated at Rs 438 crore, compared with Rs 250 crore in the previous financial year.
During the last fiscal, the bank's provisioning increased to Rs 911 crore as against Rs 482 crore in the previous year. The bank has made ad-hoc provisions of Rs 240 crore and provisions of Rs 633 crore for non-performing assets instead of Rs 325 crore in the 2000-01 financial year. The bank's net non-performing assets came down from 6.9 per cent at the end of March 2001 to 5.32 per cent at the end of March this year. In value terms net NPAs were estimated at Rs 1800 crore as against Rs 1,871 crore in the previous year. Gross NPAs, however, rose marginally from Rs 3,500 crore at the end of the last fiscal to Rs 4,000 at the end of 2001-02.
While bank's capital and reserves at the end of March 2002 increased to Rs 3216 crore compared with Rs 2,669 crore last year, its capital-to-risk asset ratio (CRAR) was higher at 10.70 per cent on March 31, 2002 as against 10.24 per cent a year ago.
PNB's total business was Rs 98,492 crore at the end of March 2002 as compared to Rs 84160 crore at the end of March 2001, a growth of 17 per cent. Deposits at the end of March 2002 amounted to Rs 64,123 crore, compared with Rs 56,131 crore in 2000-01 showing an increase of 14.2 per cent.
Advances increased 22.6 per cent to Rs 34369 crore with priority sector advances at Rs 15179 crore forming 45.5 per cent of the net credit in March 2002.
