New Delhi: India’s largest public sector lender, the State Bank of India has reported a 66.35 per cent year-on-year drop in net profit to Rs 1,260 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2016, down from Rs 3,742 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
The sharp drop in the bank’s profits is primarily on account of higher than expected provisioning for bad loans. The bank saw fresh slippages to the tune of Rs.30,313 crore during the quarter, compared to Rs 20,692 crore in the quarter ending December 31, 2015.
Provisions for the quarter stood at Rs 13,174 crore, of which Rs 12,139.17 were kept aside for non-performing assets.
Gross NPAs have jumped to 6.5 per cent of the gross advances from 5.1 per cent in the December quarter.
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Punjab National Bank had earlier posted a loss of Rs 5,367 crore for the quarter ending March 2016, making it the biggest ever quarterly posted by an Indian bank in the industry. The development made PNB the latest entrant to the long list of state-owned lenders reeling under heavy losses on account of mounting bad loans.
Besides PNB, Syndicate Bank reported a net loss of Rs 2,158.17 for the quarter ending March 2016 due to more than three-fold rise in provisions for bad loans and contingencies. Bank of Baroda, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Dena Bank have also reported losses due to bad loans.
