Punjab National Bank (PNB) slipped into the red, incurring net losses of Rs 4,750 crore in the January-March quarter, after posting a net profit of Rs 247 crore in the preceding quarter. The bank posted losses of Rs 13,417 crore in the year-ago period.
The bank expects a write-back of roughly Rs 4,000 crore, CEO Sunil Mehta said, “a few things which we thought will happen during this quarter didn’t materialize. In two-three major accounts (Essar Steel and Bhushan Steel and Power), which have already been resolved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), were on the table, but that money could not be unlocked. Against that, we had to make 100% provisioning because of the aging.”
He also added, “because of some regulatory permission we could not get in time, our stake sale for PNB Housing Finance didn’t materialize. These were the expected inflows that would have given us a net profit (in January-March)”.
Shares of PNB ended at Rs. 86 on the NSE, down 3.1% from its previous close.
Read EquityPandit’s Technical Analysis Of Nifty PSU Bank