Punjab National Bank (PNB), state-owned bank informed that it is expecting a healthy 28-29 per cent loan growth in the current financial year in the view of strong demand and spot its bad loans under 'manageable levels' in the months ahead.
PNB's Chairman and Managing Director, K C Chakrabarty told reporters "We have seen a good demand for loans and it (the credit growth) should be in the range of 28-29 per cent for the fiscal (2008-09)."
The bank is also considering of launching its credit-card business sometime in January and is believe to have signed agreements with Visa to avail the technology platform for the business, Chakrabarty informed.
As on December 19 PNB has an advance-base of 1.37 lakh-crore and a deposit-base of around 1.87 lakh-crore. Currently, its net non-performing assets (NPA) positioned at below 0.5 per cent and gross NPAs around 2.5 per cent, he added.
He said the bank is certain to maintain its NPAs under manageable levels although some slippages are expected in its risky asset portfolios in the latter half of next year.
"We do not expect any major increase in our bad loans from any specific portfolios... NPAs are not sector specific and depend upon the abilility of the customer in repaying the loan... It (NPA) is under controllable limits," Chakrabarty said.
He said on a year-on-year basis, PNB has registered a 29.5 per cent growth in deposits while its advances have grown by around 34 per cent as on December 19.
He added a healthy business growth in various segments is considered to help the bank to maintain a net interest margin of 3.4-3.5 per cent in the current fiscal.
