PNB posts Rs. 940 crore loss in Q1

Fraud-stricken Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday posted a net loss of Rs. 940 crore for the quarter ended June 30, against a net profit of Rs 343.40 crore for the same quarter last year.

While the bank's loan growth went up to nearly to Rs. 4.15 lakh crore, deposit growth remained the same at Rs. 6.30 lakh crore.

Addressing a press conference, PNB Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sunil Mehta said that the immediate aim of the bank was to recover losses through the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) to increase profitability.

"Actual recovery we are looking at is Rs 20,000 Crore. We recovered Rs 8445 crore out of which Rs 3200 Crore was recovered from Bhushan Steel and Electrosteel Steels," he said.

Highlighting prompt corrective measures taken after the scam involving jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi was unearthed; Mehta said that the bank had already filed cases with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that will help them to recover a large chunk of NPAs.

"We had filed cases in National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), a large chunk of NPA will come from there. We are expecting a recovery of Rs 5000 Crore to Rs 7000 Crore from NCLT and Rs 5000 Crore from others," he said.

A fraud of Rs 14,356 crore came to light in the month of February this year, and the bank, to this date, has struggled to limit the fallout, both on its financials and on its country-wide reputation.