Punjab & Sind Bank back in black on higher other income, lower provisions

Provision coverage ratio (PCR) strengthened further at 84.22%, compared to 69.2% in June 2020. The bank was able to cut down the cost to income ratio to 55.73% in the June quarter, compared to 67.33% in Q1FY21. (File image)

Public sector lender Punjab & Sind Bank on Thursday reported a net profit of Rs 174 crore for the quarter ended June 2021 (Q1FY22). It had incuured a loss of Rs 117 crore in Q1FY21. The lender was back in black due to a surge in other income and reduced provisioning. Total provisions were down 31% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 237 crore, compared to Rs 343 crore in the corresponding quarter last year (Q1FY21). Other income of the lender grew 127% y-o-y to Rs 349 crore.

S Krishnan, MD and CEO of the bank, said that lender has shown robust and resilient performance in almost all the business parameters, despite the pandemic. He added that bank continued its special focus on NPA recovery and, thus, recovered Rs 858 crore including recovery of Rs 124 crore in technically written-off (TWO) accounts.

The asset quality of the lender improved during the June quarter. The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio of the lender improved 43 basis points (bps) to 13.33%, compared to gross NPAs of 13.76% in the previous quarter. Similarly, net NPAs ratio also improved 43 bps to 3.61% from 4.04% in the March quarter.

Provision coverage ratio (PCR) strengthened further at 84.22%, compared to 69.2% in June 2020. The bank was able to cut down the cost to income ratio to 55.73% in the June quarter, compared to 67.33% in Q1FY21.

While the advances of the lender grew 10% y-o-y to Rs 67,933 crore, deposits grew 16% y-o-y to Rs 98,478 crore. Current accounts and savings account (CASA) deposits grew by 14.29% y-o-y to Rs 30,832 crore.

The capital adequacy ratio of the lender remained at 17.62% at the end of June quarter, compared to regulatory requirement of 10.875%.