PNB poised to touch landmark Rs 30 lakh crore total business by FY26 end: MD Ashok Chandra

Economic Times

4 days ago

Punjab National Bank (PNB) is well poised to touch the milestone of Rs 30 lakh crore total business by the end of the current financial year and the country's second biggest lender has the right strategy in place to achieve it, the bank's MD and CEO Ashok Chandra said.Total business of PNB rose by 11.6 per cent to Rs 27.19 crore at the end of the first quarter of the current financial year. PNB is closely followed by Bank of Baroda with total business of Rs 26.43 lakh crore while Canara Bank at Rs 25.64 lakh crore at the end of June 30, 2025. "We have a target of Rs 29.56 lakh crore for the current financial year. We may do better than our target and can touch Rs 30 lakh crore by March next year but let me add that we are very mindful that whatever the top line we are going to build, it should add profit to my bank," he told PTI. In an interview, Chandra emphasised that PNB is very conscious of the operating profit and even in the first quarter itself the bank has recorded the highest ever operating profit of Rs 7,081 crore."Whether it is deposit mobilisation or the corporate loan book, everything should add to the bottom line of the bank. So that is the reason now, bulk deposits have been brought down and the corporate deposits have curtailed to a great extent," he said.
Sharing the strategy to achieve the goal, Chandra said, the bank targets minimum 11-12 per cent credit growth and 9-10 per cent deposit growth in FY26."We have a good pipeline of corporate loan book of Rs 1.29 lakh crore, which is in various stages of disbursement. There has been muted growth in the past, as there was a low-yielding advanced corporate loan book. We have shed that. Now, we are very mindful that whatever loan book we are going to build, it should make a good contribution to operating profit," he said.Chandra expressed confidence that there will be at least a double digit from Q2 onwards as far as the corporate loan segment is concerned.He also highlighted that the lender is very aggressive in corporate lending and has provided confidence to corporate borrowers that decisions will be taken within a time period of 15 days. "Anything which comes to the head office, within 15 days, we are going to communicate the decision. This has given a lot of confidence to the corporates," he said.The bank is also aggressive as far as project finance is concerned, he said, adding, "We have created a dedicated cell which is headed by a General Manager for the project financing.. MSME, he said, the bank has grown at 17-18 per cent and that growth will continue, while core retail loans, like housing, vehicle and education loans, these three sectors would also continue to grow at 17 per cent. Stressing that agriculture is a important component for the bank now, he said, "there is one component that is self help group, where we have put lot of focus, and we are seeing that this year, at least 30-40 per cent growth should happen in self help group portfolio, because that constitutes my small and marginal farmer category and forms part of priority sector lending.".The bank is also putting a lot of focus on the food processing sector and infrastructure-related facilities like godowns and cold storage for the rural areas, he said.In a bid to promote lending, the bank has been holding loan outreach programmes for various segments including MSME, Agriculture at regular intervals. On the deposit side, Chandra said, the bank is focusing on low-cost CASA deposit mobilisation, which will be crossing 38 per cent of total deposits."Institutional deposits are coming down, however, we are seeing in the individual savings account. And this becomes a very, very important aspect of the CASA component, because that is a stable deposit," he said.As far as fund mobilisation is concerned, he said, "We are not looking for capital raising as such, as our CRAR is at 17.5 per cent with common equity Tier I at 12.95 per cent. Still, we have taken approval from the board for raising Rs 8,000 crore of Tier I and Tier II capital..At this capital adequacy ratio, he said, "the credit growth 11-12 per cent minimum will happen. I think that is enough to sustain this growth for the current financial year.".
Established in May 1894, the bank had a network of 10,209 branches and 11,240 ATMs across the country as of June 2025. PNB also has an international presence with a banking subsidiary in the United Kingdom and branches located in Hong Kong, Dubai, among other locations.