Punjab National Bank stock down 2.76% after posting record loss

The shares of Punjab National Bank have tumbled over 2% on the BSE on Thursday after the public sector bank posted a record loss in the fourth quarter. 

PNB posted a loss of Rs 5,367 crore in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal. However, the bank said that the downside would have been wider if it wasn't for a one-time tax write bank. Without the tax write-back, the bank's quarterly loss would have been Rs 7,300 crore. 

On Thursday morning, the bank's shares were down Rs 2.10 or 2.76% lower at Rs 74.10 per share. Further downside is expected in Thursday's trading session.

In the same period last year, PNB had posted a profit of Rs 306.56 crore.

The bank undertook a three-fold surge in provisioning for bad loans, including for power discoms and Punjab foodgrain related loans, were the main drags on the bank's performance and it expects the pain to continue for some more time.

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank jumped to Rs 55,818 crore from the year-ago period, which is 12.9% of its assets, higher than the 6.55% the bank reported a year ago.

Interest income also fell to Rs 10,824 crore, from Rs 11,651 crore in the fourth quarter of 2014-15. The net interest income fell to Rs 2,768 crore from Rs 3,792 crore. On full year basis, the bank reported a loss of Rs 3,974 crore for 2015-16, as against a profit of Rs 3,062 crore in the previous fiscal. However, full-year total income rose to Rs 54,301 crore, from Rs 52,206.09 crore in 2014-15.