Punjab National Bank cuts fixed deposit rates by up to 0.25%

State-owned lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday slashed fixed deposits rates by 0.25 per cent on select maturities.

The bank has reduced interest rates on retail term deposits by 0.05-0.25 per cent in the maturity bucket of one year and above, PNB said .

The new rates would be effective July 1. For the quarter ended March 2016, PNB posted a record high quarterly loss by any public sector lender at Rs 5,367 crore. The second-largest public sector bank reported a net profit of Rs 306.56 crore in the corresponding period of 2014-15. Provisions for non-performing assets (NPAs) rose more than three-fold to Rs 11,380 crore in the fourth quarter, compared with Rs 3,281 crore in the same period a year ago.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose significantly to 12.9 per at the end of March 2016, from 6.55 per cent a year ago. Net NPAs, too, rose to 8.61 per cent against 4.06 per cent in March 2015.