Wilful defaults by PNB's big borrowers slip further to Rs 152 bn by Apr-end

State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) saw wilful defaults by big borrowers slipping further to Rs 152 billion in April this year over the previous month, soon after suffering a record loss of more than Rs 134 billion for January-March due to frauds and bad loans.

The bank which posted a record loss of more than Rs 134 billion for the last quarter of 2017-18 closed the fiscal with big wilful defaults of Rs 152 billion, according to the PNB data.

Big wilful defaulters are categorised by PNB as those borrowers with loan outstanding of Rs 2.5 million and over.

The country's second largest public sector lender is already in troubled waters due to the Rs 143.57 billion fraud allegedly carried out by celebrity jewellery designer Nirav Modi and his associates.

Major defaulters in big borrowers category include Kudos Chemie Rs 130 billion; Kingfisher Airlines Rs 5.97 billion; BBF Industries Rs 1 billion; ICSA (India) Ltd Rs 1.34 billion; Arvind Remedies Rs 1.58 billion and Indu Projects Ltd Rs 1.02 billion.

Jas Infrastructure and Power Limited Rs 4.10 billion; VMC Systems Ltd Rs 2.96 billion; MBS Jewellers Pvt Ltd Rs 2.66 billion also figured in the list. These borrowers were part of the consortium lending by PNB.

Those among key borrowers who borrowed money solely from the bank included Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery Ltd Rs 8.99 billion; Zoom Developers Rs 4.10 billion; Forever Precious Jewellery & Diamonds Ltd Rs 7.47 billion.

Of the others are Surya Vinayak Industries Rs 1.33 billion; Nafed Rs 2.24 billion; and Mahuaa Media Rs 1.04 billion.

The scam-hit bank earlier last week posted a standalone net loss of Rs 134.16 billion for the January-March period of 2017-18, the biggest ever by any domestic lender, as bad loans surged.

As a result, provisions for the bad loans jumped four-fold to Rs 162 billion for the quarter under review compared to Rs 491 billion parked aside in the same period a year ago.

For the full fiscal 2017-18, bank posted standalone loss of Rs 122.82 billion against a profit of Rs 13.24 billion in 2016-17.

Bank's asset quality has witnessed sharp deterioration as gross net performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans, hit 18.38 per cent of gross advances at the end of March this year, as against 12.53 per cent a year ago.

Net NPAs were also soared to 11.24 per cent against 7.81 per cent year ago.

In absolute term, the gross NPA of the bank surged to Rs 866.20 billion in the fourth quarter as compared to Rs 553.70 billion in same quarter a year ago. Similarly, the net NPA also rose to Rs 486.84 billion from Rs 327.02 billion at the end of March 2017.