SBI Q4 net falls 18.5% to Rs3,299 crore as NPAs rise

State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, has reported an 18.54 per cent decline in its net profit for fiscal fourth quarter (January-March 2013) at Rs3,299 crore, against a net profit of Rs4,050.27 crore in the comparable quarter of the previous fiscal.

SBI's standalone income, however, rose to Rs36,331 crore during the quarter, from Rs33,959 crore in the corresponding year-ago quarter.

In its filing with the stock exchange, SBI attributed the decline in profit to lower interest income, which declined 4.42 per cent to Rs11,591 crore amidst an increase in non-performing assets (bad loans).

The state-run lender also saw its gross non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, rise over 29 per cent to Rs51,189 crore at the end of March 2013, against Rs39,676 crore at the end of March 2012.

Gross NPAs as a percentage of total loans rose to 4.75 per cent during the quarter, up from 4.44 per cent during the year-ago quarter.

Net NPAs stood at 2.10 per cent of loans in the March quarter.

For the full 2012-13 fiscal SBI reported a 20 per cent increase in net profit at Rs14,105 crore, against a net profit of Rs11,707 crore in the 2012-13 fiscal.

Net interest income for the full fiscal also rose 2.40 per cent to Rs44,331 crore.

Provisioning for NPAs at the fiscal-end stood at Rs16,977 crore, against Rs19,866 crore in the 2011-12 fiscal.

SBI declared a dividend of Rs41.50 per share for the year ended 31 March 2013.

Consolidated net profit of the SBI group rose 17 per cent to Rs17,916 crore during the 2012-13 fiscal, against Rs15,343 crore during the previous fiscal.

Consolidated net profit of five associate banks of SBI was marginally higher at Rs3,678 crore during the 2012-13 fiscal, compared with Rs3,627 crore in the previous year.