Punjab National Bank reports ₹492 crore loss for Q3 on higher provisioning for NPAs

Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday reported a standalone net loss of ₹492.28 crore for December quarter 2019-20 due to substantial increase in bad loan provisioning.

The bank had posted a net profit of ₹246.51 crore for the same period a year ago. In the previous September quarter, the bank had a profit of ₹507.05 crore.

Total income during the quarter under review was at ₹15,967.49 crore as against ₹14,854.24 crore in the year-ago same period, PNB said in a regulatory filing.

The bank made a provisioning of ₹4,445.36 crore for bad loans during the quarter under review. This was up from ₹2,565.77 crore parked aside for the year-ago period.

On consolidated basis, the lender reported a net loss of ₹501.93 crore during the quarter under review.

There was a net profit of ₹249.75 crore in the same period a year ago, the bank said.

Income was at ₹16,211.24 crore, up from ₹15,104.94 crore earlier.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank stood at 16.30 per cent of gross advances as at December-end 2019, down from 16.33 per cent by the year-ago same period.

Net NPAs or bad loans were at 7.18 per cent, down from 8.22 per cent by December 2018.

PNB stock was trading at ₹58.70 on the BSE, up 2.35 per cent.