Punjab & Sind Bank Aims at Rs 500 Crore Recovery From NPAs in Q4: MD

New Delhi: Punjab & Sind Bank managing director Swarup Kumar Saha has said the bank is expecting a Rs 500 crore recovery in the fourth quarter, as many of the resolution processes of NPA accounts are at the final stages. The state-owned bank's total recovery and upgradation stood at Rs 1,178 crore in the three quarters of the current financial year.

Resolution of Meenakshi Energy is at the final stage at the National Asset Reconstruction Company of India (NARCL), while Sintex and Srei resolutions are also at an advanced stage under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, he told PTI. ()

Aided by a reduction in bad loans, recovery from them and healthy growth in interest spread, the bank aims to maintain its profit growth during the financial year ending March 2023. The bank has registered a net profit growth of 24 percent at Rs 856 crore for the nine-month ended in December 2022. ()

It had earned a profit of Rs 1,039 crore in the previous fiscal FY22, the highest in the 114-year history of the lender. "Net interest Margin (NIM) of the bank is expected to be 3 percent during the current fiscal," he said.
On capital raising, Saha said the board of the bank has already given approval for Rs 250 crore.

The bank will soon start the process of appointing merchant banks and take opinions about market conditions, he said, adding the bank would take a call on raising funds through equity or bonds. As far as the capital adequacy ratio is concerned, the bank is well capitalised at 15.57 percent and it can easily take care of business growth this year, he added.

The government's holding in the bank stood at 98.25 percent at the end of September 2022. During the previous two years (2020-21 and 2021-22), the government infused Rs 5,500 crore and Rs 4,600 crore in Punjab & Sind Bank through non-interest-bearing recapitalisation bonds.