New Delhi, May 28 (IANS): State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday posted a loss of Rs 4,750 crore in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal ended March, against the net profit of Rs 13,417 crore in the same period a year ago, the bank said.

PNB slipped back into losses during the quarter in consideration after coming back into the black in the previous quarter ending December.

The bank had ended a string of three straight quarterly losses caused by the Rs 14,000 crore fraud committed by accused diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, with the Rs 247 cr net profit in the third quarter of 2018-19.

For the fourth quarter, PNB's provision coverage ratio, or PCR, for non-performing assets (NPAs or bad loans) also was up at Rs 13,417 crore against Rs 12,970 crore on this account for the same period a year ago.

The bank made a provision of Rs 7,611 crore for the fourth quarter.

PNB's gross recovery was over Rs 20,000 crore. Its gross NPAs were at 15.5 per cent and net NPAs were at 6.56 per cent.

Net interest margin (NIM) was, however, up at 2.45 per cent year-on year (y-o-y).

NII, or net interest income, was up 15 per cent in 2018-19, over the previous year.