PNB declares 100% dividend despite flat Q3 numbers

Hit by low treasury income and higher provisioning, the net profit of Punjab National Bank (PNB) remained flat at Rs 1,011 crore for the third quarter ended December.

The country's second largest public sector lender had reported a net profit of Rs 1,006 crore during the same quarter last fiscal.

Although it reported a flat profit, as the market leader State Bank did last week, PNB too proposed 100 per cent interim dividend for its shareholders.

The total income of the bank also remained at the same level as that of the corresponding quarter a year ago at Rs 6,236.55 crore.

During the quarter, the bank booked a treasury income of only Rs 157 crore against Rs 341 crore in the same quarter a year ago, PNB chairman and managing director KR Kamath told reporters here, while announcing the third quarter numbers.

Besides, the bank also made prudent provisioning for the debt relief scheme and expected wage revision, pulling down the profit, he added.

Despite offering the lowest benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) in the industry, the bank improved it net interest margin (NIM) to 3.84 per cent at the end of December from 3.59 per cent at the end of same period last year, he said.

Without specifying the NIM figures for the fourth quarter, Kamath said, the bank aims to maintain a NIM of 3.5 per cent during the fiscal.