Punjab National Bank (PNB) said on Friday that it is looking to further monetise its non-core assets, including sale of its stake in UTI Mutual Fund and life insurance venture Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance.
The bank has categorised non-core assets into two heads — real estate and investment assets.
“We had investment of 18% in UTI AMC, which we have brought down to 15%. There is still scope to monetise that,” PNB’s chief executive SS Mallikarjuna Rao said while addressing a press conference to declare the bank’s quarterly financial results.
In October 2020, the lender had sold its 3% stake in UTI AMC for around 180 crore.
PNB intends to divest its stake in Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance within the regulatory guidelines to monetise it, said Rao. He said the bank is looking to divest stake in asset reconstruction companies during 2022-23.
With regard to real estate assets, Rao said, the bank has one of the floors in Bhikaji Cama Place at Delhi and other floors are in line.
PNB expects recovery of about 5,000 from both National Company Law Tribunal and non-NCLT cases in the January-March period. “At a conservative level we are confident of getting gross non-performing assets (NPAs) below 12% by March 2022. We shall definitely get net NPAs below 4.5% by March 2022 because we are expecting recovery to the extent of 5,000 crore during the quarter,” said Rao.
The bank on Thursday reported a two-fold jump in standalone net profit to Rs 1,126.78 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021 as bad loans marginally declined.
Source: Economic Times