State Bank of India is the country's largest lender by assets
State Bank of India (SBI) - the country's largest lender by assets - on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 3,580.81 crore for the quarter ended March 31. That marked a surge of more than four times compared to its profit of Rs 838.40 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. The financial results by State Bank of India come at a time the country is in the fifth phase of a nationwide lockdown to battle the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which has battered the economy and forced many businesses to trim operations.
(Also Read: COVID-19 Lockdown Fuels India's Biggest Earnings Decline Since 2014)
In a regulatory filing, SBI said its total income from operations came in at Rs 76,027.51 crore in the final quarter of 2019-20, as against Rs 75,670.50 crore a year ago.
SBI's net interest income or the difference between interest earned from loans and interest expended on deposits fell marginally to Rs 22,767 crore compared with Rs 22,954 crore in the same period last year.
Asset quality improved as gross non-performing assets as a percentage of total loans came in at 6.15 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019-20, as against 6.94 per cent in the quarter ended December 31, and 7.53 per cent in the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Total gross NPAs stood at Rs 1,49,091.85 crore.
Net NPA came in at 2.23 per cent as against 2.65 per cent.
The bank's provisions for bad loans rose to Rs 11,894 crore as against 8,193 crore in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic SBI's board did not declare any final dividend in the last quarter of last previous financial year.
As of 2:38 pm, SBI shares were trading 6 per cent higher at Rs 185 outperforming the Nifty which was up 1.1 per cent.
Shares in SBI traded 3.88 per cent higher at Rs 180.80 apiece on the BSE at 2:17 pm, outperforming the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index which was up 1.16 per cent.
