PNB Reports Strong Q3 Profit Growth Amid Mixed Performance
Punjab National Bank has announced its financial results for the quarter ending December 2025. The bank posted a net profit of Rs 5,100 crore, marking a significant increase of 13.1% compared to the Rs 4,508 crore recorded in the same period last year. Sequentially, profit grew by 4% from the Rs 4,904 crore reported in the September quarter.
Profit Before Tax Declines Due to Higher Provisions
Despite the rise in net profit, profit before tax saw a decline of 8.3% year-on-year, dropping to Rs 6,331 crore from Rs 6,906 crore. This decrease is primarily attributed to increased provisions during the quarter. Provisions, excluding tax, stood at Rs 1,150 crore, a sharp contrast to the write-back of Rs 285 crore in the year-ago period. Specifically, provisions for non-performing assets rose substantially to Rs 1,341 crore from Rs 318 crore a year earlier.
The bank's tax outgo fell significantly to Rs 1,231 crore from Rs 2,398 crore in the previous year's quarter, providing some relief to the bottom line.
Operating Profit Rises on Higher Non-Interest Income
Operating profit showed a healthy increase of 13%, reaching Rs 7,481 crore from Rs 6,621 crore. This growth was supported by a robust performance in non-interest income. Other income surged by 47.2% to Rs 5,022 crore. Within this category, recovery from written-off accounts jumped to Rs 1,956 crore from Rs 823 crore. Treasury income increased by 32.8% to Rs 1,337 crore, and fee income grew by 9.2% to Rs 1,712 crore.
However, net interest income declined by 4.5% to Rs 10,533 crore from Rs 11,032 crore. Interest income rose by 2.8% to Rs 32,231 crore, but interest expenses increased at a faster pace, leading to the lower NII. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 37,253 crore.
Balance Sheet Growth and Asset Quality Improvement
On the balance sheet front, global deposits grew by 8.5% year-on-year to Rs 16.60 lakh crore. Savings deposits increased by 4.8%, while term deposits rose by 10.4%. Global advances saw a growth of 10.9% to Rs 12.31 lakh crore. The retail, agriculture, and MSME portfolio expanded by 11% to Rs 6.61 lakh crore.
The credit-deposit ratio improved to 74.2% from 72.6% a year ago. Domestic CASA stood at 37.1%, compared to 38.1% last year.
Asset quality showed improvement on a year-on-year basis. Gross NPAs declined to 3.19% from 4.09%, and net NPAs eased to 0.32% from 0.41%. The bank's global net interest margin fell to 2.52% from 2.93% in the corresponding quarter last year.
