Punjab & Sind Bank posts Rs 255cr loss for Q3 as bad loans soar

Punjab & Sind Bank on Monday reported a net loss of Rs 255.49 crore for the quarter ending December due to a spike in bad loans. The state-owned lender had made a net profit of Rs 22.34 crore during the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Total income during the third quarter of 2019-20 declined to Rs 2,077.01 crore from Rs 2,337.13 crore for the year ago same period, the bank said in a regulatory filing. Bad loans or non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank showed deterioration as gross NPAs jumped to 13.58 per cent of gross advances by the end of December 2019 as against 11.19 per cent by the same period of 2018.

In value-terms, gross NPAs were Rs 8,923.49 crore by end-December, higher than Rs 7,990.67 crore at end-December 2018. Net NPAs too increased to 8.71 per cent (Rs 5,417.79 crore) from 6.90 per cent (Rs 4,696.47 crore).

Provisions for bad loans during the quarter increased to Rs 464.01 crore as against Rs 453.88 crore the bank had parked aside in the year ago quarter. The bank is carrying a provision of Rs 11.52 crore as against the outstanding balance of Rs 230.40 crore as at December 31, 2019 being 5 per cent of outstanding food credit availed by Punjab as per the RBI letter issued to SBI, the lead bank.

PSB shares closed at Rs 18.45 on BSE, down 1.60 per cent from previous close.

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