Punjab & Sind Bank doubled its net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, to Rs 346 crore. The lender had net profit of Rs 161 crore in the year-ago period. Its profit before provisions too rose 72% on year to Rs 317 crore during the quarter.
The lender’s net interest margin (NIM), however, declined by 27 basis points sequentially to 2.90% in Q4FY22. On a year-on-year basis, NIM improved by 71 basis points.
The bank reported a near 4% on year increase in gross advances to Rs 70,387 crore in Q4FY22 from Rs 67,811 crore in the year-ago period. Advances in the retail, agriculture and MSME sector grew 10.5% on year.
Retail loans grew 15.3% on year to Rs 11,737 crore while MSME advances grew 13.3 % to Rs 13,021 crore. Loans to corporate fell 2.3% on year to Rs 34,695 crore in March 2022 quarter. Corporate loans consist of 49.29% of the total gross advances. The bank’s priority sector advance and agriculture advance stood at Rs 31,178 crore and Rs 12,551 crore, respectively.
“…The bank continued its special focus on retail business as a result of which RAM (retail, agriculture and MSME) composition has improved from 48% to 51% while corporate advance has declined from 52% to 49% on Y-o-Y basis…the bank has also surpassed the regulatory targets of 40% and 18% in priority sector and agriculture credit, respectively,” S Krishnan, MD & CEO of the Punjab & Sind Bank, said.
On asset quality front, gross NPA ratio declined by 227 basis points sequentially to 12.17% in Q4FY22 from 14.44% Q3FY22 and 159 basis points on year from 13.76% in Q4FY21. Net NPA ratio, too, fell to 2.74% in Q4FY22, down from 3.01% in Q3FY22. The bank’s provision coverage ratio (PCR) stood at 87.89% in March 2022 against 82.89% as in March 2021.