Journal of African Development

Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) are one of the issues that the banks operating in the Indian public sector bank had to deal with, and the present paper focus on how Punjab National Bank (PNB) improved its recovery framework followed by 2020 merger. It aims at evaluating the role of merger synergies, legal intervention under SARFAESI Act and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), and technology adoption in enhancing asset quality and financial stability. The secondary data approach is a case study technique of analysing recovery patterns and performance indicators. The results indicate improvement, as NPAs declined from 14.21% in FY2020 to 8.65% in FY2024, while recoveries increased from ₹11,175 crore ($1.49B) to ₹17,599 crore ($2.12B). Capital adequacy improved to 16.25% and provision coverage exceeded 90%. The research suggests enhancing technology-based recovery and legal enforcement processes. Despite being restricted to one bank, the results have implications to the public sector banks implying that the integrated recovery systems and mergers synergies can help in supporting growth sustainability in a regulated banking sector...