Punjab National Bank posts surprise 7.1 percent rise in quarterly profit

(Reuters) - Indian state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB), which has been hit badly by a $2 billion fraud early last year, posted a surprise quarterly profit on Tuesday, helped by a sharp drop in provisions.

PNB posted a profit of 2.47 billion rupees ($34.44 million) for the three months to Dec. 31, compared to a profit of 2.3 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of 10.63 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

Asset quality improved quarter-on-quarter, with gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans easing to 16.33 percent at the end of December from 17.16 percent at the end of September. This was still higher than 12.11 percent a year earlier.

 

($1 = 71.7210 rupees)

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)