PNB registers 18.6 per cent growth for FY 05-06

Shimla, Apr 29: The Punjab National Bank (PNB) has registered an 18.6 per cent growth on year-on-year basis as its total business amounted to Rs 1,94,000 crore in 2005-06, Bank's Chairman-cum- Managing Director (CMD) S C Gupta said today.

The focus of retail lending this year was on housing and traders' finance segments, which grew by around 33 per cent to touch Rs 15,500 crore till March this fiscal.

The bank's priority sector credit registered a growth of 22.8 per cent at Rs 32,500 crore till March 31, 2006 as compared to Rs 26,469 crore in the corresponding period last year a release said here today.

Mr Gupta said the priority sector credit stood at 43.33 per cent of the net bank credit, which was much higher than the national average of 40 per cent.

The bank was laying greater emphasis on financing agriculture, small-scale industries (SSIs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in line with the RBI's and government's expectations and keeping in view their huge employment generation capacity, he said.

Accordingly, he said, lending to agriculture sector registered a growth of 22.6 per cent on year-on-year basis with Rs 14,300 crore in 2005-06, while share of agriculture credit in net bank credit stood at 18.77 per cent.

Mr Gupta said lending to the SSI sector amounted to Rs 8,510 crore, registering a growth of 24.2 per cent, while the bank issued around three lakh additional krishi cards during 2005-06, taking the total number of cards to around 18 lakh. Delineating the bank's role in financial sector, he said it continued to have the largest network of branches amongst the nationalised banks with 4,510 offices, including 444 extension counters, adding that the total forex turnover of the bank amounted to Rs 42,254 crore in 2004-05.

The bank has computerised all its branches while installing 700 ATMs in various parts of the country, he said.

Centralised Banking Solutions, an ambitious project of the bank aimed at interconnectivity of branches, has been implemented in 2,018 service outlets, covering 543 centres in the country, he said.

The bank was awarded the Golden Peacock Award 2005 for Excellence in Corporate Governance, National Award for Excellence in SSI Lending and the Golden Peacock National Training Award, he added.

UNI