Fraud-Hit PNB Posts Largest Ever Loss

Shares in India’s fraud-hit Punjab National Bank plunged more than 12% on Wednesday after it posted the largest ever quarterly loss for an Indian lender, AFP reported. PNB, the country’s second-biggest state-run bank, has been reeling since announcing in February that it had been the victim of a 135 billion-rupee ($2 billion) scam involving celebrity jeweler Nirav Modi. Investigators charged Modi in absence, as well as several senior PNB officials, on Monday over the huge fraud case, which comes as the government bids to clean up debt-laden lenders. PNB said on Tuesday it had incurred a record 134.17 billion-rupee net loss for the January-March quarter, having posted a 2.62 billion-rupee profit in the same period last year. Shares in the firm plummeted 12.21% to 75.50 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex index shortly after opening Wednesday. The bank has accused Modi and his uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi of defrauding it of 2.8 billion rupees, which was just part of its total losses.