Hit by mounting bad loans, three public sector banks, namely Central Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Dena Bank, reported losses while Punjab National Bank posted a sharp decline in profit for the third quarter of 2015-16.
Increase in provisioning due to sharp rise in bad loans resulted in squeezing of bottomlines.
Central Bank of India today reported a loss of Rs 836.62 crore for October-December 2015-16, against a profit of Rs 137.65 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal.
The asset quality worsened with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rising to 8.95 per cent of the gross advances during the quarter, as against 6.2 per cent year ago.
As a result, bank's provisions and contingencies more than doubled to Rs 1,499.05 crore as of December 2015, as against Rs 645.44 crore a year ago.
Similarly, Dena Bank reported a loss of Rs 662.85 crore for the third quarter as against net profit of Rs 76.56 crore in the same quarter last year.
Gross NPAs as a percentage to total advances rose significantly to 9.85 per cent from 5.61 per cent in the same quarter year ago, Dena Bank said in a statement.
Total provisions, excluding for income tax, rose four fold to Rs 966.97 crore as against Rs 241.33 crore in the year-ago period.
Following the quarterly announcement, Dena Bank's scrip nosedived by over 12 per cent after the company reported dismal numbers.
Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank reported a loss of Rs 486.14 crore for the third quarter. The bank had earned a net profit of Rs 164.11 crore in the same quarter last year.
Gross NPAs as a percentage to total advances rose to 6.40 per cent from 5.46 per cent in the same quarter year ago.
Total provisions, excluding for income tax, nearly doubled to Rs 1,208.15 crore as against Rs 643.66 crore in the year-ago period.
After results, shares of the Allahabad Bank declined by 3.2 per cent and closed at Rs 51 per unit.
Country's second largest PSU lender PNB's net profit plummeted by 93 per cent to Rs 51 crore for the third quarter Rs 774.56 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal due to higher provisioning for mounting bad assets.
The bank increased its provisioning and contingencies allocation to Rs 3,775.53 crore a steep increase from Rs 1,467.77 crore parked aside in the same quarter a year ago.
Bank's asset quality deteriorated further as gross NPAs hit 8.47 per cent of the gross advances as against 5.97 per cent a year ago.
Shares of the bank plunged to 87.85 per unit, down 6.89 per cent on the BSE.
