PNB reports over ₹2,400 cr loan fraud linked to Srei ex-promoters

The New Delhi-based Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday said it has reported fraud of over ₹2,000 crore to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) against the erstwhile promoters of two entities.

This includes a loan account of SREI Equipment Finance for a fraud of ₹1,241 crore, and one of SREI Infrastructure Finance for a fraud of ₹1,193 crore. The state-owned lender has made provision for the entire outstanding amount, according to a stock exchange filing.

SREI Infrastructure Finance entered the construction equipment financing segment in 1989. Its board was reconstituted after the successful implementation of the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited’s (NARCL’s) resolution plan, which was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in August 2023.


The PNB reported 14 per cent rise in standalone net profit at ₹4,904 crore for the July-September quarter of 2025-26 (Q2FY26). It had logged a profit of ₹4,303 crore in Q2FY25, the lender said in a BSE filing.

Its operating profit in Q2FY26 was at ₹7,227 crore and ₹14,308 crore in the first half of FY26, recording a growth of 5.46 per cent and 6.51 per cent, respectively, year-on-year (Y-o-Y).

However, PNB’s gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio improved by 103 basis points to 3.45 per cent as of September 2025 from 4.48 per cent a year ago. Net NPA ratio improved by 10 basis points to 0.36 per cent from 0.46 per cent a year ago. The bank further said its savings deposits increased to ₹5,08,964 crore, registering a Y-o-Y growth of 4.2 per cent, while current deposits increased to ₹74,215 crore, an increase of 9 per cent.

It was reported earlier that the NARCL — the government backed bad bank — has significantly increased resolution, with recoveries more than doubling to ₹4,192 crore or 13.66 per cent of total acquisition between April and October of FY26, according to sources aware of the development.

“The total recovery amount increased from ₹1,981 crore (6.79 per cent of total acquisition) at the beginning of the financial year on April 3, 2025, to ₹2,410 crore (8.18 per cent of total acquisition) by July, before more than doubling to Rs 4,192 crore as of October 31, 2025,” a source said.