Punjab National Bank eyes 11% growth in total business to Rs 12 trillion

Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday said it is eyeing an 11 per cent growth in its total business to Rs 12 trillion in the current fiscal year, despite being hit by a Rs 140 billion fraud four months ago.

“The guidance from PNB leadership for financial year 2018-19 is total business of Rs 12 trillion, which will account for 10.8 per cent year-on-year growth,” PNB said in a press statement. The bank’s total business stood at over Rs 10 trillion in 2017-18.

In a bid to curb frauds, the bank said it had tightened bank’s credit underwriting norms and put in place an off-site monitoring to identify risks.

“Internal audit process has been augmented to give higher weight to off-site monitoring mechanism,” the Delhi-based bank said during its circle head conference held here on Monday. It will help bank reduce dependence on physical inspection and audit to identify risks and lead to greater transparency in reporting, it added.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, who was present at the conference, ruled out privatisation of public-sector banks.  He cleared the air by stating that the government is not interested in privatisation of Public Sector Banks (PSBs). 

He cautioned the PSBs that bigger challenge for them is the advent of new players and increased competition. 

The process of underwriting of credit has been divided into four components with different employees focused on sourcing; appraisal, processing and underwriting; documentation and disbursement and recovery, the bank said.

PNB had reported a Rs 140 billion fraud to investigative agencies, including Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) linked with fraud letters of undertaking issued by its employees to group of companies belonging to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.