PNB hits a new low
PNB hit a new 52-week low today at Rs.74.30, which is just short of its 15% lower circuit of today at Rs.73.10.
This was expected the moment the results came in; in fact all were bracing for bad numbers and it came in much worse.
Thanks to Nirav Modi, the Bank posted its biggest ever quarterly loss of Rs.13,417 crore. A four times surge in provisions pushed the Bank into this state – provisions during the quarter were at Rs.16,203 crore. The Bank stated that it has provided for only 50% of the loss due to the fraud, which was at Rs.7.178 crore of the total of Rs.14,356 crore. The balance amount is to be spread over the next three quarters of current fiscal. This means Q1 could also more pain and we could see a much battered balance sheet for Fy19 too.
The CAR dropped to a dismal 9.2%, which is much below the minimum threshold of 11.5% as per Basel-III norms. Its total NPA as at 31st March 2018, stood at Rs 86,620 crore v/s Rs 55,370 crore a year ago.
Asset quality is obviously in shambles – Gross NPA rose from 12.11% to 18.38% (QoQ) and Net NPA rose to 11.24% from 7.55%.