There Will be No Retrenchment: PNB MD and CEO at PNB Q1 FY-21 Financial Results

India’s second-largest public sector bank, Punjab National Bank, (PNB) hosted a virtual press conference to discuss its Q1 FY 2020-21 results.  Sh CH. S. S. Mallikarjuna Rao, MD and CEO of the Bank, briefly discussed with the Media PNB’s June-quarter results as well as the recent economic developments in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.  

While addressing the media, Rao said that overall, the economy would recover “more effectively” from October this year onwards and maintained the overall credit growth at 4-6 per cent, this fiscal.  He also spoke about MSME, QIP, net interest margin (NIM) besides other important economic and financial subjects. 

Here are major excerpts from the Press conference: 

* Net profit of ₹308 crore - as against the expectation of a net loss - for June quarter. 

* The Bank released key metrics for the merged entity (after amalgamating Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India). 

* The outstanding provisions are down by 1.5% during the June quarter.  

* Profit Before Tax down by 65%. 

* PNB expects credit costs to remain around 2.5% for FY21 

* PNB has guided that around 5-6% of its loan book may be restructured; the final figure would depend on the contours of the scheme - that the expert committee under Mr. K.V. Kamath prescribes 

* Expects the overall economy to come back “far more effectively” from October 2020 onwards 

* Maintains that overall credit growth would be 4-6 per cent, this fiscal; with this ambit, the MSME and retail segment will grow 8-10 per cent  

* MSMEs are expected to do well as they will have a great opportunity from the restrictions on Chinese goods 

* Sectors like hospitality, tourism and aviation will take a longer period to bounce back 

* On the proposed asset restricting window, the bank board is expected to approve the scheme in the coming days and by September an idea will emerge on the number of accounts that will be eligible for this facility. 

* Not expecting the Bank’s Net Interest Margin (NIM) and Net Interest Income (NII) to get adversely impacted this fiscal despite the Covid-19 

* PNB plans to go in for Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) by the end of the third quarter or early fourth quarter. * There is no plan as of now to approach the Government for capital infusion. 

* PNB has a strength of 1.03 lakh employees and, as the business grows, this employee strength will further grow 

PNB's loan book of Rs 30,000 crore has not opted for RBI's moratorium scheme (with only 20-22 per cent of account holders opting for it) 

* Following the merger of Oriental Bank of Commerce and Union Bank of India with PNB, there will be no retrenchment of employees 

* At the end of June 2020, PNB’s loan book size stood at Rs 7.21 trillion. So, the bank expects loans worth Rs 36,000-Rs 38,000 crores to avail the restructuring window provided by the RBI 

* Out of the total loan book of Rs 7.21 trillion, Rs 1.27 trillion belongs to the MSME category. Out of this, around 14 per cent is under the non-performing assets (NPA) category.