PNB Q3 net profit rises 7.12% to Rs 246.51 cr on lower provisioning for bad loans; total income falls 2.64%

New Delhi: Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday posted 7.12 percent increase in net profit at Rs 246.51 crore for its third quarter ended 31 December, 2018, driven by lower provisioning for bad loans. PNB, which was involved in a Rs 14,356-crore scam by Nirav Modi, had reported a net profit of Rs 230.11 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago. The bank’s total income, fell by 2.64 percent to Rs 14,854.24 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 15,257.5 crore in the year-ago quarter. [caption id=“attachment_4364901” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PNB. Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] PNB managing director and CEO Sunil Mehta said the company’s financial numbers are back in black. “We have honoured all our commitments. Our bank, as on date, has provided all for that incident (Nirav Modi fraud). We suffered because of the one-off incident which has now been absorbed by the bank,” Mehta said On PNB’s asset quality, the bank said, its gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a percentage to total advances rose to 16.33 percent from 12.11 percent in the year-ago period. Its net NPAs, however, came down to 8.22 percent from 8.90 percent at the end of December 2017, PNB said in a BSE filing. Total provisions, excluding for income tax, made during the third quarter of the current financial year were Rs 2,753.84 crore as against Rs 4,466.68 crore in the year-ago period. Out of which, provisioning for bad loans stood at Rs 2,565.77 crore as against Rs 2,996.42 crore reported during the third quarter of the previous fiscal. Shares of PNB were trading 1.98 percent higher at Rs 74.60 apiece on BSE.