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Punjab National Bank
A London court has allowed a plea by fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, wanted in India on fraud and money laundering charges, to adjourn a trial in an unrelated Bank of India unpaid loan case until March over UK prison delays. The 54-year-old accused, fighting extradition to India in the estimated USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan scam, was shifted from Thameside prison in south London to HMP Pentonville, north London, in October to facilitate an appearance at the High Court in London. At an online review hearing for the USD 8-million Bank of India case on Friday, Judge Simon Tinkler partially granted Nirav's application to adjourn the eight-day January trial by a few weeks until March 23 next year following delays by UK prison authorities in providing access to important legal paperwork. There must, in my judgment, be some doubt as to whether those papers will ever make their way to Mr Modi if they indeed currently still exist, Justice Tinkler noted. It does seem t
In a bid to shore up recovery, the country's second-largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) has identified about 100 non-performing asset (NPA) accounts for sale to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) during the current financial year. "More than 100 accounts we have identified...the book size will be somewhere around Rs 4,000-5,000 crore. That is the outstanding book (for sale to ARCs)," PNB MD and CEO Ashok Chandra told PTI in an interview. Asked about the amount the bank can realise from the sale, he said, "We expect to recover something in the range of 40-50 per cent minimum. Through that route also, we are expecting a good recovery should happen this financial year". There may be an account where 100 per cent recovery is also going to take place because you have good security now, but in some cases it could be low, he said, adding that "we are anticipating that average recovery should be 40-50 per cent minimum". Chandra also said the bank has devised the righ
Punjab National Bank (PNB) is well poised to touch the milestone of Rs 30 lakh crore total business by the end of the current financial year and the country's second biggest lender has the right strategy in place to achieve it, the bank's MD and CEO Ashok Chandra said. Total business of PNB rose by 11.6 per cent to Rs 27.19 crore at the end of the first quarter of the current financial year. PNB is closely followed by Bank of Baroda with total business of Rs 26.43 lakh crore while Canara Bank at Rs 25.64 lakh crore at the end of June 30, 2025. "We have a target of Rs 29.56 lakh crore for the current financial year. We may do better than our target and can touch Rs 30 lakh crore by March next year but let me add that we are very mindful that whatever the top line we are going to build, it should add profit to my bank," he told PTI. In an interview, Chandra emphasised that PNB is very conscious of the operating profit and even in the first quarter itself the bank has recorded the ...