Punjab National Bank (PNB) is significantly increasing its cybersecurity spending, allocating about 20% of its technology budget—around ₹7,000–₹8,000 crore—to tackle rising digital threats, including risks from advanced AI models.
| Photo Credit:
BIJOY GHOSH
B India’s Punjab
National Bank is stepping up investments in cybersecurity and
accelerating procurement of technology to guard against rising
digital threats including those from advanced AI models, a
senior executive said on Tuesday.
The country’s third largest state-run lender by market
capitalisation has earmarked about 20% of its technology budget
for cybersecurity, or roughly ₹7,000-₹8,000 crore ($73.5 million – $84 million) for the current financial year,
executive director D Surendran told Reuters in an interview,
adding that this allocation is more than 50% higher than the
previous year.
“We don’t want to compromise on this kind of expenditure,”
Surendran said, adding the bank will increase the spending
further if required.
PNB’s move comes amid heightened regulatory focus on risks
emerging from advanced AI models including Anthropic’s Mythos.
Last month India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with
heads of top banks to gauge preparedness against AI-related
cybersecurity risks. India’s central bank has also been in talks
with global regulators, lenders and government officials to
understand the potential risks, Reuters has reported.
PNB is also fast-tracking purchases of security tools, including
firewalls and other systems to address vulnerabilities,
Surendran said.
“We have increased our frequency of audit… now we have made
our audit process 24/7 so that the criticality will be
identified fast,” Surendran said.
PNB SEES SUSTAINED LOAN GROWTH
The New-Delhi based lender, earlier in the day, posted a more
than 14% rise in net profit to ₹5,225 crore, helped by
healthy loan growth and improving asset quality.
Loans grew 12.7% year-on-year while deposits rose 9.2%.
The bank will target 12-13% loan growth in financialyear
2026/27, Surendran said, driven by credit to small and
medium-sized enterprises and retail loans, he said.
The bank expects deposits to grow around 9-10% for the year.
Published on May 6, 2026
