SBI profit plunges 35% as NPA provisions rise

State Bank of India (SBI), India’s biggest lender, on Wednesday announced its worst quarterly profit in over two years with a 35% year-on-year decline to Rs 2,375 crore for the quarter ended September from Rs 3,658 crore last year due to sharp rise in the provision for bad loans.

State Bank of India (SBI), India’s biggest lender, on Wednesday announced its worst quarterly profit in over two years with a 35% year-on-year decline to Rs 2,375 crore for the quarter ended September from Rs 3,658 crore last year due to sharp rise in the provision for bad loans.

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Provisions for non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, rose 44% to Rs2,645 crore from Rs1,837 crore in the year-ago period.

“Stress is great on the mid-corporates side,” said Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman, SBI.

“We don’t see that stresses have improved.”

As of September 30, gross NPAs fell to 5.6% of gross advances from 5.2% a year ago. Net NPAs rose to 2.9% from 2.4% last year.

Shares closed at Rs 1,698, up 1% on the BSE as net interest margin was up 3.5%.