Country’s fourth-biggest state-run lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday reported a net profit after tax of Rs 261.90 crore during the January-March quarter of FY 2017, as its bad loans eased while net interest income and other income rose.

The bank had posted a net loss of Rs 5,367.14 crore in corresponding quarter of previous fiscal, said Punjab National Bank in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange on May 16, 2017.

Total income of the bank too grew by 18.3 per cent to Rs 14,989.33 crore in Q4 FY17, from Rs 12,669.21 crore in Q4 FY16.

On the asset quality front, the bank’s gross non-performing assets (Gross NPA or asset quality) eased to 12.53 per cent of total loans, compared with 12.90 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Net NPA of the bank too slipped to 7.81 per cent, against 8.61 per cent in corresponding period last year.

In the quarter, provisions (other than tax) and contingencies increased to Rs 5,753.51 crore from Rs 2,562.19 crore in previous quarter and shrank from Rs 9,878.25 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

Net Interest Income (NII), the difference between interest earned on loans and interest paid on deposits, jumped 33.1 per cent at Rs 3,683.52 crore versus Rs 2,767.71 crore in the year ago period. Its non-interest income rose 68.2 per cent to Rs 3,102.80 crore from Rs 1,845.18 crore in the same period a year ago.

Buoyed by earnings, shares of the bank were trading at Rs 174 apiece, up 4.22 per cent, from previous close on BSE at 14:47 hours.