Punjab National Bank slips back into loss of ₹4,750 cr in Quarter 4  

State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday posted a loss of ₹4,750 crore in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal ended March, against the net profit of ₹13,417 crore in the same period a year ago, the bank said.

PNB slipped back into losses during the quarter in consideration after coming back into the black in the previous quarter ending December.

The bank had ended a string of three straight quarterly losses caused by the ₹14,000 crore fraud committed by accused diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, with the ₹247 cr net profit in the third quarter of 2018-19.

For the fourth quarter, PNB's provision coverage ratio, or PCR, for non-performing assets (NPAs or bad loans) also was up at ₹13,417 crore against ₹12,970 crore on this account for the same period a year ago.

The bank made a provision of ₹7,611 crore for the fourth quarter.

PNB's gross recovery was over ₹20,000 crore. Its gross NPAs were at 15.5 per cent and net NPAs were at 6.56 per cent.

Net interest margin (NIM) was, however, up at 2.45 per cent year-on year (y-o-y).

NII, or net interest income, was up 15 per cent in 2018-19, over the previous year.