Punjab National Bank Q2 profit up 2%, beats estimates

India's state-run Punjab National Bank, the country's fourth-biggest lender by assets, reported a 2 per cent rise in second-quarter profit, beating forecasts.

Net profit rose to Rs 561 crore for the quarter ended September 30 from Rs 549 crore a year earlier, the state-run bank said on Friday. 

Analysts on average had expected a net profit of Rs 433 crore, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans stood at 13.31 per cent at end-September compared with 13.66 per cent at end-June quarter and 13.63 per cent a year earlier.