Punjab National Bank cuts fixed deposit rates by up to 0.25%

State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) slashed fixed deposits rates by 0.25% on select maturities on Tuesday.

The bank has reduced interest rates on retail term deposits by 0.05-0.25% in maturity bucket of 1 year and above, PNB said in a statement. The new rates would be effective July 1, it said.

For the quarter ended March 2016, PNB posted a record high quarterly loss by any public sector lender at Rs 5,367 crore. The second-largest public sector bank reported a net profit of Rs 306.56 crore in the corresponding period of 2014-15.

Provision for NPAs rose more than three-fold to Rs 11,380 crore in the fourth quarter as compared to Rs 3,281 crore in the same period a year ago.

The Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) rose significantly to 12.9% at the end of March 2016, from 6.55% a year ago. The net NPAs too rose to 8.61% against 4.06% at March 2015.