State owned lender Punjab National Bank's net profit in the second quarter ended September 30 grew by 13.81 per cent to Rs 575.34 crore on robust growth in other income.
The public sector bank had reported a net profit of Rs 505.49 crore in the corresponding (July-September) quarter of 2013-14.
"In the previous quarter, we had said that our growth rate will catch up with the growth rate of the industry and by and large we have caught up with the growth rate of the industry in this quarter.
"Other income showed a robust growth of Rs 1,558 crore (quarter ended September) as compared to Rs 899 crore of last year. All non-interest income component have performed well that contributed to 73 per cent growth in other income.
"We had good recovery in return of assets this year. We had recovery of Rs 483 crore on the return of assets," PNB, Chairman and Managing Director, K R Kamath said here in a post earnings conference today.
The total income of the bank rose by 11.93 per cent from a year ago to Rs 13,020.46 crore.
Net interest income rose by 3.38 per cent on the year to Rs 4,151.19 crore.
However, provisions towards bad assets increased by 13.37 per cent to Rs 2, 300.69 crore during the quarter under review.
The bank made an additional provisioning for wages by Rs 60 crore during the quarter.
"Every quarter we are making a provision of Rs 180 crore this year. In this quarter, we have made an additional provision of Rs 60 crore," Kamath said.
The gross Non Performing Assets (NPAs) or bad loans rose to 5.65 per cent during the quarter under review from 5.14 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago.
Net NPAs moved up to 3.26 per cent during the quarter from 3.07 per cent a year ago.
Total business of the bank rose to Rs 8.31 lakh crore in September 2014 as compared to Rs 7.20 lakh crore in September 2013. Net advances were at Rs 3.57 lakh crore at the end of September, up 13.7 per cent from year ago.
"Credit growth has been subdued because of the negative growth in the large industry. And a reasonable growth of around 20 per cent in the areas like, agriculture, Small and Medium Industries...The risky areas or where we have stressed (assets), we have clearly stayed away," Kamath said.
Shares of PNB closed 2.6 per cent down at Rs 931.50 apiece on the BSE today.
