Punjab National Bank (PNB), the fourth largest state-owned bank by assets, announced December quarter earnings on Tuesday that highlighted the huge problem of troubled loans haunting public sector banks, sending an unambiguous message that despite the rosy GDP numbers, what lurks beneath is ugly.
Gross non-performing assets touched 8.5% of the loan book, jumping by more than half from September-end, as a result of a review of loans initiated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as part of a cleaning-up exercise. Stressed assets, which include bad loans plus restructured assets, increased to 17.6%.