Punjab & Sind Bank posts Rs 218 crore profit in September quarter

Public sector Punjab & Sind Bank (P&SB) on Monday reported a net profit of Rs 218.28 crore in the quarter ended in September 2021 on the back of NPA recovery.

The bank had reported a net loss of Rs 401.27 crore in the year-ago period but had a net profit of Rs 173.85 crore in the April-June 2021 quarter.

Total income of the bank during the July-September quarter of FY22 was down at Rs 1,945.12 crore against Rs 1,974.78 crore in the corresponding period of FY21, P&SB said in a regulatory filing.

The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose further to 14.54 per cent of the gross advances at the end of September 2021 from 14.06 per cent at September-end 2020, and from 13.33 per cent by the end of June 2021.

The bank managing director S Krishnan said the increase in gross NPA is due to two large accounts of Srei Group.

In value terms, the gross NPAs (bad loans) of the Delhi-headquartered bank stood at Rs 9,822.80 crore by end of Q2FY22, as against Rs 8,673.16 crore by end of Q2FY21.

Net NPAs, however, came down to 3.81 per cent (Rs 2,287.77 crore) from 5.87 per cent (Rs 3,306.52 crore).

The bank continued its special focus on NPA recovery, he said, adding, the bank has recovered Rs 893 crore including recovery of Rs 60 crore in technically written-off accounts during the quarter.

Krishnan said the bank expects to maintain profit momentum in the coming quarters.

During the quarter the Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) improved further to 84.44 per cent as against 76.12 per cent in September 2020.

The bank has recently launched 'PSB UnIC' a unified digital platform, to provide a hassle-free banking experience to the customer and has also taken several IT initiatives.