Punjab & Sind Bank is poised to clock net profit of over Rs 1,000 crore this fiscal, its managing director and CEO Swarup Kumar Saha said.

The state-owned lender more than doubled its fiscal third quarter net profit to Rs 282 crore, up from Rs 114 crore a year ago.

For the nine months ended December 2024, the Delhi-headquartered bank reported a net profit of Rs 703 crore versus Rs 456 crore a year ago. 

The lender's total income for the quarter ended December rose to Rs 3,269 crore against Rs 2,853 crore in the same period last year, 

Net interest income grew 27.06% to Rs 939 crore while operating profit increased 74.73% to Rs 484 crore. 

The bank’s asset quality improved, with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as percentage of advances falling to 3.83% from 5.70% a year ago.

Similarly, net NPAs or bad loans came down to 1.25% from 1.80% a year ago.

Saha said that the bank aims to contain gross NPA below 3% and net NPA below 1% by March-end 2025. The bank is eyeing a net interest margin of 2.8% for the current fiscal, he added. 

The provision coverage ratio (including technically written off) stood at 89.53% as of 31 December 2024, compared to 88.16% a year ago.

The bank’s capital adequacy ratio moderated to 15.95% compared to 16.13% at the end of December 2023.

On capital raise, Saha said the bank expects to complete the QIP (qualified institutional placement) of Rs 2,000 crore in the current quarter.

During the December quarter, the bank raised Rs 3,000 crore through issuance of long-term infrastructure bonds. 

The bank has funded exposure of Rs 123.84 crore in two borrowers’ accounts which are under litigation and respective adjudicating authorities have granted a stay on downgrading, it said. The lender has made adequate provisions for the accounts.