Punjab National Bank's Q1 net at Rs 343 crore; provisions decline

Key Highlights: 

• PNB sees 12% yoy and 31% qoq rise in Q1
• NII rises over 4% each on both yoy and qoq basis 
• Provisions for NPAs  were at Rs 2,559.71 crore 

Punjab National Bank (PNB) witnessed net profit of Rs 343.40 crore, a rise of 12.09% compared to net profit of Rs 306.36 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year for the quarter ended June 30, 2017 (Q1FY18).

Q1 net profit also increased by a whopping 31.11% from Rs 261.90 crore registered in the preceding quarter.

A Bloomberg poll estimated net profit of Rs 344 crore in this quarter for PNB.

Net Interest Income (NII) stood at Rs 3,855.13 crore, registering growth of 4.22% year-on-year (YoY) and 4.65% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis. While total income in this Q1 was at Rs 14,468.14 crore, which was up by 7.36% yoy but down by 3.47% qoq.

Interestingly, provisions for non-performing assets (NPAs) saw decline of 19.14% to Rs 2,559.71 crore in Q1 as against Rs 3,165.67 crore in the similar period of the previous year. Provisions have also declined by 47.87% versus Rs 4,910.39 crore of Q1FY17.

PNB said, “Provisions for employee benefits pertaining to pension, gratuity, leave encashment and other usual and necessary provisions including unhedged foreign currency exposure and income tax have been made on estimated basis for the quarter.”

Provision coverage ratio as on June 30, 2017 stands at 58.23%.

Gross NPAs in percentage terms were at 13.66% compared to 13.75% in Q1FY17 and 12.53% in Q4FY17. In value terms, it stood at Rs 57,720.70 crore, increasing by 1.88% yoy and 4.24% qoq.

Total deposits stood at Rs 625,616.11 crore in Q1, up 12.93% from Rs 553,952.20 crore in Q1FY17. While borrowing were at Rs 40,439.13 crore growing by just 2.78% as against Rs 39,343 crore in Q1FY17.

Advances also increased by 2.08% at Rs 399,749.84 crore in Q1, compared to Rs 391,574.24 crore a year ago same period.

After the Q1 result announcement, PNB shares jump over 2% trading at Rs 161.05 per share on BSE.