Punjab National Bank (abbreviated as PNB) is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is headquartered in Delhi, India, it is under the ownership of the Ministry of Finance, government of India. The bank was founded in May 1894 and is the second largest government-owned bank in India, both in terms of its business volumes and its network. The bank has over 180 million customers, 12,248 branches, and 13,000+ ATMs.PNB has a banking subsidiary in the UK (PNB International Bank, with seven branches in the UK), as well as branches in Hong Kong, Kowloon, Dubai, and Kabul. It has representative offices in Almaty (Kazakhstan), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Shanghai (China), Oslo (Norway), and Sydney (Australia). In Bhutan, it owns 51% of Druk PNB Bank, which has five branches. In Nepal, PNB owns 20% of Everest Bank, which has 50 branches. PNB also owns 41.64% of JSC (SB) PNB Bank in Kazakhstan, which has four branches.

Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory, which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. Ladakh is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east, the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to the south, both the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan to the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang across the Karakoram Pass in the far north. It extends from the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram range to the north to the main Great Himalayas to the south. The eastern end, consisting of the uninhabited Aksai Chin plains, is claimed by the Indian Government as part of Ladakh, and has been under Chinese control since 1962.In the past Ladakh gained importance from its strategic location at the crossroads of important trade routes, but as the Chinese authorities closed the borders between Tibet Autonomous Region and Ladakh in the 1960s, international trade dwindled. Since 1974, the Government of India has successfully encouraged tourism in Ladakh. As Ladakh is strategically important, the Indian military maintains a strong presence in the region. The largest town in Ladakh is Leh, followed by Kargil, each of which headquarters a district. The Leh district contains the Indus, Shyok and Nubra river valleys. The Kargil district contains the Suru, Dras and Zanskar river valleys. The main populated regions are the river valleys, but the mountain slopes also support the pastoral Changpa nomads. The main religious groups in the region are Muslims (mainly Shia) (46%), Buddhists (mainly Tibetan Buddhists) (40%), Hindus (12%) and others (2%). Ladakh is one of the most sparsely populated regions in India. Its culture and history are closely related to that of Tibet.Ladakh was established as a union territory of India on 31 October 2019, following the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act. Prior to that, it was part of the Jammu and Kashmir state. Ladakh is the largest and the second least populous union territory of India.