PNB posts 13.53% increase in profit

Punjab National Bank on Thursday reported a 13.5 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 1,306 crore for the quarter ended December 2012, against Rs 1,150 crore in the corresponding period of 2011.

On the bank’s results, Chairman and Managing Director K R Kamath said the increase in net profit was due to a fall in provisions against non-performing assets, higher cash recovery and a drop in the cost of funds.

Cash recovery stood at Rs 1,499 crore, against 1,265 in the year-ago period. Total provisions, including those for bad assets, declined to Rs 1,376 crore from Rs 1,526 crore in the year-ago period.

Operating profit rose 0.22 per cent to Rs 2,682 crore, against Rs 2,676 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2011.

As of December-end, gross non-performing assets stood at 4.61 per cent, against 2.42 per cent at the end of December 2011.

Net non-performing assets rose to 2.56 per cent from 1.11 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year. The bank’s net interest margin stood at 3.47 per cent.

Kamath said the government was likely to infuse Rs 1,248 crore into the bank. This would raise its capital adequacy ratio from 11.66 per cent to about 12.5 per cent, he added.