Aided by smart growth in operating profit and improved cash recovery from NPAs, Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) on Thursday reported an 8 per cent growth in net profit for the first quarter ended June 30 at ₹174 crore. This public sector bank had recorded a net profit of ₹161 crore in the March quarter this year. In the first quarter last fiscal, PSB had recorded net loss of ₹117 crore.

It maybe recalled that PSB had staged a turnaround in the January-March 2021 quarter as it recorded profit for the first time after eight consecutive quarters of net losses.

Speaking to BusinessLine on the financial performance for Q1, S Krishnan, Managing Director & CEO, PSB, said that strong performance on operations and improved cash recovery helped the bottomline performance for the quarter under review.

Operating profit grew 136.21 per cent sequentially on a quarter-on-quarter basis to ₹411 crore. On a year-on-year basis, the operating profit grew 81.86 per cent when compared to operating profit of ₹226 crore recorded in same quarter last fiscal.

Cash recoveries

Krishnan said that PSB had made cash recoveries of about ₹700 crore in the first quarter this fiscal and this was higher than previous quarter.

“I still stick to my earlier statement made post the March quarter results that the bank will be able to post profits in each of the quarters this fiscal. We have achieved this for Q1 and will be able to do so in the coming quarters as well,” he added.

Net interest margin improved 25 basis points to 1.95 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Net interest income (NII) grew 7.82 per cent to ₹579 crore from ₹537 crore in June quarter last year. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, NII increased 16.97 per cent.

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