Kolkata, May 18: Taking markets, analysts and investors by huge suprise, country's largest bank SBI today posted nearly 200-time increase in profit at whopping Rs 4,050.27 crore for January-March period—the highest ever in its history—on a sharp fall in provisioning for bad loans.
SBI profits had taken a big hit in the same period of 2010-11 at Rs 20.88 crore on account of higher provisioning for bad loans and increased tax outgo.
Terming its performance as “blockbuster” State Bank of India's (SBI) Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said it is the highest ever quarterly profit for the lender. Its net profit of Rs 11,707.29 crore for the entire fiscal ended March, 2012 is the third highest profit of any corporation in India, he added.
“In the Indian context, this (SBI's annual profit) is to my mind is the third highest profit of any corporation. We have Reliance Industries and ONGC whose profits are in the range of Rs 18,000-20,000 crore,” he said.
“... the only other company is TCS, whose profit is something like Rs 10,750 crore, so this Rs 11,000 mark as of now only three companies in India have crossed. I am not aware of result of CIL which I believe should come out today itself, so as of now this is the third highest profit making company.”
“We have been able to retain and consolidate the gains on the interest side. The asset quality suffered in the second and third quarters and we have declared a war on non-performing assets (NPAs),” he told reporters here.
The total provisioning for bad loans for the quarter was down to Rs 5,547 crore from Rs 6,059 crore in the comparable period. In the period under review, the loss from sale of equity stood at Rs 26 crore as against Rs 335 crore in the previous corresponding quarter.
Total income rose by 28 per cent to Rs 33,959.54 crore in the quarter.
The net interest margin rose to 4.17 per cent at the end of March 2012. It projected NIM of 3.75 per cent for 2011-12. Buoyed by the stellar performance, bank shares rose to Rs 1,942, up 5.08 per cent on the BSE.
The SBI Board has proposed a dividend of 350 per cent, or Rs 35 per share for 2011-12.
