PNB profit more than doubles to ₹4,306 crore in second quarter

Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Monday reported more than two-fold jump in its profit at ₹4,306 crore in the second quarter ended September 2024.

The state-owned lender had earned a net profit of ₹1,756 crore in the same quarter in the previous financial year.

Total income increased to ₹34,447 crore during the quarter under review against ₹29,383 crore in the same quarter last year, PNB said in a regulatory filing.

The bank reported an interest income of ₹29,875 crore during the quarter, higher than ₹26,355 crore in the same period a year ago.

As regards asset quality, the bank witnessed improvement with gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) declining to 4.48% of the gross loans by the end of September 2024 from 6.96% a year ago.

Similarly, net NPAs or bad loans moderated to 0.46% from 1.47% at the end of the second quarter of the previous fiscal.

On a consolidated basis, the bank's profit more than doubled to ₹4,714 crore as against ₹1,990 crore in Q2FY24.

During the quarter, the bank made a floating provision of ₹350 crore in line with the board-approved policy, it said.

As on September 30, it said, the bank is holding a floating provision of ₹500 crore.

The Provisioning Coverage Ratio (including Technical Written off accounts) as on September 30, 2024, rose to 96.67% from 91.91% at the end of the same quarter a year ago.