PNB slumps as company declares 900 willful defaulters worth Rs 11,000 crore

NEW DELHI: Shares of Punjab National Bank slipped over 4 per cent in Wednesday's trade after the bank declared a list of 900 willful defaulters with loans totaling up to Rs 11,000 crore. Reacting to the development, the stock slumped 4.47 per cent to hit its fresh 52-week low of 69.45 on the BSE.

As part of its balance sheet clean-up exercise, PNB plans to sell up to Rs 3,000-crore worth of bad loans to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) in the ongoing 4th quarter of the current fiscal, a PTI report said.

For the third quarter ended December 31, 2015-16, PNB's asset quality deteriorated and gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 8.47 per cent of the gross advances as against 5.97 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.

Likewise, net NPAs rose to 5.86 per cent of the advances as of December quarter of 2015-16, from 3.82 per cent in the year-ago period.