PNB reports surprise profit of Rs 1,019 crore for June quarter

Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 1,018.6 crore for the quarter ended June 2019 (Q1 FY20) despite a marginal rise in non-performing assets (NPAs) against a net loss of Rs 940 crore in a year-ago period.

Gross NPAs increased to 16.49 per cent against 15.5 per cent in the previous quarter. In Q1 FY19, the figure stood at 18.26 per cent. Net NPAs declined year-on-year to 7.17 per cent against 10.58 per cent in the year-ago period.

Provisions and contingencies stood at Rs 2,023.31 crore, down 64.8 per cent against 5,758.16 crore in the year-ago period. Sequentially, the numbers dropped 79.9 per cent. In the March quarter, the figures stood at Rs 10,071.11 crore.

Basic diluted earnings per share came in at Rs 2.21 against negative Rs 3.41 in the year-ago period. Housing loan grew to Rs 54,451 crore with year-on-year growth of 29.64 per cent. PNB generated fresh business of Rs 80,000 crore in Q1 FY20.

"The bank has reported one loan account in the power and steel sector under borrowal fraud category to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during second quarter of current financial year involving an amount of Rs 3,760.62 crore outstanding as on June 30, 2019," it said in a statement.

"The account was already under NPA category since FY2016 and provision amounting to Rs 1,880.44 crore was held in the account as at June 30, 2016. This is a consortium advance of 33 lenders which is near resolution stage under NCLT. The remaining provision in the fraud account will be done by the bank in terms of extant RBI guidelines," PNB said in the statement.

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