According to The Hindu BusinessLine, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has set ambitious growth targets for the current quarter, with core retail loan growth expected to reach 17-18% and micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) lending targeted at around 21% growth. As reported by ANI, MD & CEO Ashok Chandra stated that the bank expects agriculture priority-sector lending to maintain its growth momentum after recording 18% growth, as it looks to sustain profitability and improve asset quality in the coming quarters.
As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, Chandra highlighted that retail is doing very well with core retail activity like housing, vacation, mortgage loans, and education loan growing at more than 16%. He expects the festive season to support credit demand, with core retail segment growth reaching 17-18% during the quarter. The bank's agriculture priority sector is growing at 18% and the momentum is expected to continue in the current quarter. MSME lending, which was growing at 20%, is projected to achieve 21% growth this quarter.
According to The Hindu BusinessLine, PNB sanctioned corporate loans worth ₹2.5 lakh crore in the first two quarters of the current financial year, compared with ₹4 lakh crore during the entire previous financial year. Chandra explained that the bank was replacing lower-yielding advances with higher-yielding loans, keeping corporate loan-book growth at around 10-11% despite a rise in sanctions. This strategy helped improve net interest income, with domestic net interest margin (NIM) rising by more than 10 basis points and global NIM by 8 basis points during the quarter.
As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, Chandra noted that the latest 25-basis-point repo rate hike could have a positive impact of around 7 basis points on NIM. He indicated that lending and deposit rates would be reviewed by the bank's Asset Liability Committee (ALCO) in the coming months, while the RBI would decide on any further rate action based on inflation and growth trends. The bank has reported strong growth, asset quality and profitability in every quarter over the past two years and expects this positive trend to continue in the coming quarters.
