New Delhi, Feb 9: State Bank of India, country’s largest lender, on Friday posted a surprising net loss of Rs 2,416.37 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 in comparison with a net profit of Rs 2610 crore in the same quarter last year.
Provisions and contingencies figures showed an increase of 111 per cent year-on-year to Rs 18876.21 crore for the quarter against Rs 8,942.83 crore in the same period last year. The losses are bound to increase the non-performing assets (NPAs). Bank’s Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) in absolute terms remained at Rs 1.99 lakh crore in Q3 in FY 2018 over Rs 1.86 lakh crore in Q2 in FY 2018 and Rs 1.08 lakh crore in Q3 FY2017.
Addressing the media persons after the results, Bank chairman Rajnish Kumar said the net losses were reported after hardening of bonds. “Net loss was due to lower trading income due to hardening of bond yields, higher corporate slippages leading to higher loan loss provisions and significant investment depreciation hit,” the bank added.
Provisions for bad loans for the quarter ended December 2017 stood at Rs 17,759.72 crore, which shot up 145 percent compared to year-ago and increased 6.2 percent over September quarter.