To say that the loss of Rs.5367 crore posted by PNB for Q4FY16 was shocking is to put things mildly. This is the highest loss posted by any bank in the Indian banking history. This loss was against a net profit of Rs.306 crore in previous Q4. The loss would have been much higher but for the tax write back of Rs.1890 crore.

The surge in provisions is what led to this huge loss. Provisions jumped up almost three times to a jaw dropping Rs.10,485 crore (QoQ). Provision coverage dropped sequentially from 53.85% to 51.06%.

PNB’s asset quality was terrible. Gross NPA jumped up by 443 bps to 12.90% (QoQ) and net NPA rose 275 bps to 8.61%.

The Bank ended FY16 with a loss of Rs.3974 crore v/s profit of Rs.3062 crore in FY15. NII for the fiscal fell 7.5% at Rs.15,312 crore.