More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, May 5, 2026

 

Please click here to read all liners published on this story

--PNB MD: Plan to list regional rural bank Haryana Gramin Bank in early FY28
--CONTEXT: Comments by PNB MD, CEO Ashok Chandra in interview to Informist
--PNB MD: No plan to cut further stake in Canara HSBC Life Insurance
--PNB MD: Have not yet thought about plans to foray into pension business
--PNB MD: Not planning to list PNB MetLife currently
--PNB MD on PNB MetLife IPO: As of now not there, MetLife has to move ahead
--PNB MD: Planning branch expansion in southern, western India next few mos
--PNB MD: No plans to expand overseas branches
--PNB MD: Have minor stake in NSE, may raise some funds via IPO
--PNB MD: Targeting INR 2 bln quarterly profit from credit card business FY27
--PNB MD: Targeting INR 2.5 bln quarterly profit from cash mgmt svcs segment

 

By Shubham Rana, Priyasmita Dutta and Sagar Sen

 

NEW DELHI – To support business growth, Punjab National Bank will focus on new regions and product verticals in 2026–27 (Apr-Mar), with the lender looking to expand its presence in southern and western India, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ashok Chandra said Tuesday. The bank will also target higher profitability from its credit card and cash management services verticals, Chandra told Informist in an interview.

 

The bank will open 250 new branches in the current financial year, most of which will be in the southern and western regions. "These are the areas where potential is there, things are happening, but we have a very small presence in those segments," Chandra said. The bank has no plans to expand overseas operations, Chandra added.

 

India's second-largest public sector bank is looking to expand its presence in Karnataka, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, Chandra said. "This is the one that will drive my business."

 

The bank, Chandra said, has created three verticals – credit card, supply chain, and cash management services – with quarterly profit targets. The Delhi-based lender is targeting a quarterly profit of INR 1.5 billion to INR 2.0 billion from the credit card business and an INR 2.5-billion quarterly profit from the cash management services segment in FY27. The supply chain segment is expected to earn processing fee revenue of INR 1 billion to INR 1.5 billion every quarter, Chandra said.

 

Earlier in the day, PNB released its financial results for the March quarter and FY26. The bank reported a net profit of INR 52.25 billion for Jan-Mar, up 14% on year. For FY26, it reported a net profit of INR 169.04 billion, higher than INR 166.30 billion in FY25. Total income rose to INR 1.47 trillion in FY26 from INR 1.38 trillion a year ago. Shares of the bank closed at INR 107.89 on the National Stock Exchange on Tuesday, down 0.7%. 

 

Punjab National Bank also plans to list Haryana Gramin Bank, one of the eight regional rural banks it sponsors, in early FY28, Chandra said, adding that the bank has already initiated the process of listing. Regional rural banks were established to develop the rural economy by providing accessible credit for agriculture, trade, commerce, industry and other productive activities in rural areas.

 

Initially, the bank was looking to list one of its regional rural banks on stock exchanges by March, but the West Asia war delayed the timeline due to volatile market conditions. "There are a lot of activities to be done, and those have started," he said. "I am expecting that somewhere, maybe in early FY28, it should definitely go for listing." Haryana Gramin Bank had reported a net profit of INR 3.77 billion for FY25, with a capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio of 15.31%. 

 

After the regional rural bank, PNB was also planning to list its other subsidiaries. The bank has three subsidiaries in which it holds majority stake – PNB Gilts Ltd., PNB Investment Services Ltd., and PNB Cards and Services Ltd. It also owns considerable stake in PNB Housing Finance Ltd. and PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd.

 

According to Chandra, PNB MetLife will not be immediately listed, though the bank has "initiated some discussion". However, the Delhi-based bank's chief added that "MetLife has to come forward and take it further".  In 2018, PNB MetLife had received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for an initial public offering of 495 million shares. However, the bank did not go forward with this due to the market conditions then. Punjab National Bank holds 30% stake in PNB MetLife, while leading global insurance company MetLife International Holdings LLC holds 49.7% stake.  

 

In FY26, PNB raised INR 9.12 billion through the sale of 10% stake in its other insurance subsidiary, Canara HSBC Life Insurance Co. Ltd.'s initial public offering. Chandra said PNB would like to keep its remaining 13% stake in Canara HSBC Life Insurance and wasn't looking to reduce its stake further. "We don't have any plan to further exit now," he said. 

 

Interestingly, Chandra said PNB has a "very small" stake in NSE Ltd. and the bank may benefit from its ensuing listing. "I think we will get some good valuation in that," he said. India's leading stock exchange, National Stock Exchange, plans to list on bourses soon, marking it one of India's top IPOs.

 

While PNB has strong presence across the financial sector, the bank is yet to foray into the pension fund management business. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority recently laid the foundation for Indian banks to expand into the pension business, but Chandra said the bank was yet to consider the move. "As of now, we have not thought of doing it, but we will find out what are the opportunities that can come," he said.

 

In January, the PFRDA board had approved a framework allowing scheduled commercial banks to independently set up pension funds to manage the pension corpus. This was aimed at addressing regulatory constraints that have limited bank participation in managing pension corpus so far.  End

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.