State-owned banking giant Punjab National Bank (PNB) has reported a massive milestone in its first-quarter earnings for the fiscal year 2027. On Saturday, the lender posted an astronomical, over three-fold jump in its standalone net profit, which skyrocketed to ₹5,253 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. This marks an exceptional leap from the net profit of ₹1,675 crore recorded by the bank during the corresponding period last fiscal year.
According to PNB’s official regulatory filing, the bank’s total income during the quarter under review remained relatively static at ₹37,231 crore. However, the lender’s crucial interest income registered a marginal increase, climbing up to ₹32,897 crore compared to the ₹31,964 crore generated in the same quarter a year ago. Driven by efficient cost management, the bank’s total operating profit also witnessed a healthy uptick, rising to ₹7,519 crore from the ₹7,081 crore posted in the year-ago period.
The most defining highlight of PNB’s financial report was the dramatic turnaround in its asset quality. The bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) drastically declined to 2.78 percent of its gross advances, down significantly from 3.78 percent a year ago. In absolute terms, gross bad loans dropped by ₹7,292 crore to stand at ₹35,381 crore. Similarly, net NPAs dropped to a mere 0.26 percent from 0.38 percent last year. To insulate its balance sheet from future volatility, the state-owned lender doubled its provisions for bad loans sequentially, raising the buffer to ₹792 crore from ₹396 crore in the same period a year ago, reflecting a highly robust and cautious growth strategy.
