Punjab National Bank, India's fourth largest government owned bank today reported a sharp drop in net profits to Rs 51 crores.

Net profits fell as much as 93 per cent, as the company made higher provisions. Gross non performing assets surged to 8.47 per cent as at the end of Dec 31, 2015, compared with 6.36 per cent in the previous quarter.

Shares in Punjab National Bank (PNB) fell as much as 6 per cent, following the results. Several banks have been badly hit this quarter, due to additional provisioning. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank from the private space and PNB from the PSU banking space have been hit.

Analysts would now await the results of some of the other government owned banks like Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank to see how bad the situation is likely to get.

GoodReturns.in