Lower taxes help PNB report 13% rise in net profit despite Rs 1.3K cr bad loan provisions

MUMBAI: Punjab National Bank reported a net profit of Rs 5,100 crore for the quarter ended Dec 2025, up 13.1% from Rs 4,508 crore a year earlier. Sequentially, profit rose 4% from Rs 4,904 crore in the Sep quarter.
Profit before tax declined 8.3% year-on-year to Rs 6,331 crore from Rs 6,906 crore, as provisions increased during the quarter. Provisions (excluding tax) stood at Rs 1,150 crore compared with a write-back of Rs 285 crore in the same period last year. Provisions for NPAs rose to Rs 1,341 crore from Rs 318 crore a year ago.
The bank’s tax outgo fell to Rs 1,231 crore from Rs 2,398 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Operating profit increased 13% to Rs 7,481 crore from Rs 6,621 crore, supported by higher non-interest income. Other income rose 47.2% to Rs 5,022 crore, while net interest income declined 4.5% to Rs 10,533 crore from Rs 11,032 crore. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 37,253 crore.
Within other income, recovery from written-off accounts rose to Rs 1,956 crore from Rs 823 crore. Treasury income increased 32.8% to Rs 1,337 crore, and fee income grew 9.2% to Rs 1,712 crore. Interest income rose 2.8% to Rs 32,231 crore, while interest expenses increased at a faster pace, resulting in lower NII.
On the balance sheet, global deposits grew 8.5% year-on-year to Rs 16.60 lakh crore. Savings deposits rose 4.8% and term deposits 10.4%. Global advances increased 10.9% to Rs 12.31 lakh crore, with the retail, agriculture and MSME portfolio rising 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 with 38.1% last year.
Asset quality improved on a year-on-year basis. Gross NPAs declined to 3.19% from 4.09%, while 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.