State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday posted a standalone profit of Rs 586.33 crore for the fourth quarter ended March, aided by a good increase in interest income.

The second-largest PSU lender had reported a loss of Rs 697.20 crore in the January-March period of 2019-20.

Interest earned during the quarter rose 36 per cent to Rs 18,789.53 crore from Rs 13,858.98 crore earlier.

The financial numbers are not strictly comparable as Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India were merged with PNB effective April 1, 2020, the bank said.

There was a marginal improvement in asset quality as the gross non-performing assets were brought down to 14.12 per cent of gross advances at the end of March 2021 from 14.21 per cent in March 2020.

BoI margin

Bank of India managing director and CEO A.K. Das said the interest margins of banks are unlikely to be as robust as before because of the shift to repo-based lending rates and transmission of lower interest rates to consumers.

The PSU bank’s domestic net interest margin fell to 2.16 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020-21 against 3.18 per cent a year ago. It posted a net profit of Rs 250 crore against a net loss of Rs 3,571 crore a year ago.