New Delhi, Oct. 19 -- Punjab National Bank (PNB) has a comfortable capital buffer and does not plan to raise capital in the current financial year, managing director and chief executive officer Ashok Chandra said in an interview with Mint. The second-largest public sector bank is targeting credit growth of about 15% while moderating corporate loan growth to 10-11%.

PNB expects its net interest margin (NIM) to improve in the coming quarters, supported by the recent 25-basis-point (bps) repo rate hike and a focus on replacing lower-yielding advances. Its domestic NIM rose 10 bps to 2.74% in the September quarter, Chandra said.

Core operating profit, excluding treasury and recovery, grew 29% year-on-year in the September quarter, following...