Punjab National Bank (PNB) reported a net profit of Rs 246.5 crore for the third quarter of the financial year 2018-19. This was a 7.12 percent rise from the Rs 230 crore profit reported a year ago. The net profit comes as a surprise as most experts forecasted that the lender would be reporting its fourth consecutive quarterly loss.

Its net interest income (NII), that is the difference between interest earned and paid by the bank, rose by 8 percent to Rs 4,290 crore for the October-December 2018 period as against Rs 3,989 crore in the previous year.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) for the quarter under review were at Rs 77,733 crore when compared to Rs 81,251 crore in the previous quarter. Net NPAs fell to Rs 35,675 crore from Rs 38,279 crore in December 2017.

Gross NPA ratio dropped to 16.33 percent for the quarter-ended December 2018 as against 17.16 percent in the last quarter. The net NPA ratio lowered to 8.22 percent from 8.9 percent in September 2018 quarter.
Provisions were at Rs 2,754 crore as against Rs 9,758 crore in the previous quarter. In the same quarter last year, it had reported provisions of Rs 4,467 crore.

PNB further informed that it has written a provision of Rs 163 crore for its IBC accounts has a provision of Rs 2,014 crore in relation to a fraud.