PNB to maintain last year's level of NIM in 2008-09

Country's second largest PSU lender Punjab National Bank today said it does not see any jump in its Net Interest Margin (NIM) in 2008-09, compared to last year's margin following the tight monetary measures adopted by RBI.     

Net interest margin is the difference between interest of the income generated by banks or other financial institutions and the amount of interest paid out to their lenders.     

"Last fiscal, we achieved NIM of 3.5 per cent and in 2008-09, we expect to maintain almost the same level," Punjab National Bank Executive Director J M Garg told reporters here today while asserting that the margins of the banks were under pressure.     

 

He further said we would also have to check the yield on Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) investment and non SLR investment which would also impact bank's margin. "We will need to see to what extent we will make up our depreciation in income," he said.     

Yesterday, PNB announced an increase in PLR by 100 basis points and deposit rates between 75-100 basis points following the tight monetary measures adopted by RBI to tame double digit inflation.