ADVERTISEMENT

PNB Expects Rs 8,000-Crore Recovery From NPAs This Month

PNB is hopeful of a Rs 8,000-crore recovery from bad loans in the first quarter of the current financial year.

Pedestrians walk past a Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Pedestrians walk past a Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

Enthused by the successful resolution of Bhushan Steel Ltd., fraud-hit Punjab National Bank Ltd. is hopeful of a Rs 8,000 crore recovery from bad loans in the first quarter of the current financial year.

The bank, with its focus on recovery of dues from defaulters, has managed to surpass the total amount recovered in the last financial year in the first two months of this fiscal, a senior PNB official told wire agency PTI.

“This is due to renewed focus on recovery by PSBs, including referral of many cases to the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) under the bankruptcy code, is forcing many of the defaulting companies to settle their non-performing assets. While PNB had recovered Rs 5,617.55 crore in the whole of last year, the bank’s recovery stands at Rs 6,000 crore by the first week of June,” the official said.

By the time this quarter (April-June) ends, PNB expects to complete recovery of almost Rs 8,000 crore, the official said, adding large corporates like Religare, Arcotech and Surya Alloys have recently settled bad loans worth Rs 350 crore in the last two months via the recovery camps set up by PNB.

It is to be noted that PNB suffered a loss of Rs 13,416.91 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2018, the biggest ever by any domestic lender.

The bank last month said it provided for Rs 7,178 crore, 50 percent of the total amount of Rs 14,356 crore in the fourth quarter of 2017-18, with regard to the loss incurred on account of the Nirav Modi fraud.

Opinion
PNB May Get Rs 13,000 Crore From Asset Sale, Equity Infusion

According to the bank, the remaining amount will be covered in the three quarters of the current fiscal year.

PNB said it has paid Rs 6,586.11 crore to other banks to discharge its liabilities towards letters of undertaking and foreign letters of credit issued fraudulently and in an unauthorised manner to certain overseas branches of Indian banks through the misuse of SWIFT system of the bank, which was then not integrated with core banking solutions.

Nirav Modi and his associates in connivance with some officials of PNB defrauded the bank of over $2 billion dollar.

To focus on recovery, PNB has moved over 3,000 personnel from operations across the country into the stressed assets vertical, the official said.

Opinion
PNB Refuses To Disclose Details Of Rs 14,000-Crore Scam