SBI Profit Declines 7% To Rs 5,196 Crore In December Quarter; Asset Quality Improves

The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India, on Thursday said that its net profit in quarter ended December 2020 fell 7 per cent annually to Rs 5,196 crore from Rs 5,583 crore during the same quarter last year. SBI’s profit was hurt by higher provisions and a dip in income from its corporate banking operations.

SBI’s net interest income or the difference between interest earned and interest expended rose nearly 4 per cent to Rs 28,820 crore as against Rs 27,779 crore in the year ago period.

During the quarter SBI’s asset quality saw an improvement as its gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a percentage of total advances came in at 4.77 per cent compared with 5.28 per cent. Total gross NPAs came in at Rs 1,17,244 crore.

Its net NPAs, as a percentage of total advances, improved to 1.23 per cent from 1.59 per cent in the previous quarter.

Income from the SBI’s corporate banking operations fell nearly 19 per cent, while overall provisions rose to Rs 10,342 crore from Rs 7,253 crore. However, provisioning for bad loans fell sharply by 72 per cent in December quarter as the bank provided Rs 2,290 crore compared with provisioning of Rs 8,193 crore in the same quarter last year.

Analysts had expected SBI to report a profit of Rs 4,510 crore, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

As of 2:14 pm, SBI shares traded 2 per cent higher at Rs 342.65, outperforming the Sensex which was up 0.7 per cent.