PNB shines in Q1 despite Nirav, NPA hits

New Delhi: Punjab National Bank suffered a net loss of Rs 940 crore in April-June 2018 due to higher provisioning for the multi-crore Nirav Modi scam and NPAs despite a recovery of Rs 8,445 crore of bad loans.

The state-owned bank had earned a profit of Rs 343.40 crore in the year-ago period.

"During the quarter, the bank made a total provisioning of Rs 5,135 crore. Of this, the provision for the Nirav Modi fraud was Rs 1,800 crore," PNB Managing Director Sunil Mehta told reporters here.

He however expressed hope of getting into the black during the ongoing financial year.

The bank has made 63 per cent provisioning for the over Rs 14,000-crore fraud against 50 per cent required as per the RBI's dispensation.

Following the scam, the bank posted a staggering loss of Rs 13,416.91 crore for the fourth quarter of 2017-18, the biggest ever by any domestic lender.

Sounding optimistic about the future, he said, the bank hopes to make recovery of Rs 20,000 crore in the first half of this financial year.

The bank has made recovery of Rs 8,445 crore in the first quarter itself as against its own estimate of about Rs 7,000 crore.

The resolution of two accounts— Bhushan Steel and Electrosteel — under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has contributed about Rs 3,200 crore while remaining has come from resolution done by the bank during the quarter.

Going forward, the lender expects the recovery momentum to continue both at NCLT level and at the bank's level.

He said, the bank expects to make recovery of about Rs 11,000 crore in the second quarter. Despite second consecutive quarter loss, the total income of the bank rose to Rs 15,072 crore in the June quarter of 2018-19 from Rs 14,468.14 crore a year ago.

PNB also reported deterioration in its bad assets, with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rising to 18.26 per cent of advances as on June 30, 2018 as against 13.66 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.

Net NPAs rose to 10.58 per cent against 8.67 per cent in the year-ago period.

However, operating profit of the bank improved to Rs 4,195 crore as compared to Rs 3,217 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Net interest income also rose to Rs 4,692 crore as against Rs 3,855 crore.

On capital requirement, he said, the bank plans to sell non-core assets worth Rs 8,600 crore during the current financial year.

The bank has appointed merchant banker for selling its stake in PNB Housing Finance, he said, adding, it will be done at the opportune time.

The bank also intends to dilute minority 4 per cent stake in PNB Metlife Insurance as part of price discovery mechanism.

Besides, he said, the bank has got capital infusion of Rs 2,816 crore last month. Moreover, there would be internal accruals during the year so there is hardly any requirement of capital support but "more government support is always welcome", he said.

He also said on the back of improvement in recovery, business growth will become profitable during course of the year.

The bank has taken steps to minimise the risk for credit, to segregate the processing and monitoring and recovery, he said, adding, all loans above Rs 50 crore have been parked in systematically important branches for effective monitoring and control.