Comments
Punjab National Bank (PNB) is "shifting gears" to change itself into a retail bank in a big way, Usha Ananthasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO, has said.
As part of risk diversification strategy, the bank will focus on expanding the share of "small value loans” in its balance sheet, Usha said at a press conference to announce the second quarter results.
Special focus will be on retail loans. There is ample room for PNB to expand its retail loan book and this would be the way forward, she said.
For the second quarter ended September 30 this year, PNB on Friday reported a 7.9 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 621 crore (Rs 575 crore). For the half year ended September 30, PNB's net profit stood at Rs 1,342 crore.
On non performing assets, Usha said that the picture was better than the first quarter and the trend was in the direction of reducing NPAs.
In a change of tack, PNB has now decided to look at selling stressed assets to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs).
For the last 5-6 years, PNB had desisted from selling assets to ARCs.
"It is very difficult to say where we will land on the NPA front when we close the current fiscal. One thing is for sure, we are seriously focused on reducing NPAs and improving recoveries", she said.
Srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.