PNB Executive Director Gauri Shankar said that PNB is planning to sell NPAs worth Rs 2,600-3,000 crore to ARCs. The total business of the bank has reached Rs 8,98,613 crore as on June 30, 2015 against Rs 7,92,405 crore a year ago, showing a year-on-year growth of 13.4%. Deposits of the bank have risen to Rs 5,17,733 crore as on June 30, 2015 from Rs 4,44,920 crore as on June 30, 2014, a year-on-year growth of 16.4%, Shankar said.

"Credit of the Bank for the first quarter of the current fiscal registered a growth of 9.6 per cent to Rs 3,80,880 crore. The growth in credit in the first quarter was not as much as we were envisaging. Probably Q2 is going to be better, Q3 will be still better and I am going to end this year with really wonderful results," Gauri Shankar said.

The bank has reported to the Reserve Bank regarding 400 'willful defaulters' and plans to sell Non Performing Assets (NPAs) worth up to Rs 3,000 crore to Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) in the current fiscal. "400 accounts are there (willful defaulters) which we have reported to RBI so that it (list) can be updated on the website of RBI," Shankar said.

"Let me tell you, 4-5 companies' accounts (stressed assets), we have already identified. Work is on for strategic debt restructuring, which we are going to do as per RBI guidelines," he said.

Punjab National Bank has reported gross NPAs of 6.47 percent in this quarter against 6.55 percent in the preceding quarter and 5.48 percent a year ago. Net NPA has declined marginally to 4.05 per cent from 4.06 per cent in the March quarter and up from 3.02 percent a year ago.

“The results were a relief from a disastrous quarter in March. But the relief would be short-lived unless credit growth picks up and there is a decline in bad loans led by a broad-based industrial recovery,” says Dhananjay Sinha, head, institutional equity, Emkay Global Financial Services.

By Premji