SBI Q4 profit jumps 80 pc to Rs 6,451 crore as bad loans situation improves.
The country's largest lender SBI on Friday reported an 80 per cent surge in standalone net profit at Rs 6,450.75 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021, aided by decline in bad loans.
State Bank of India (SBI) had earned a profit of Rs 3,580.81 crore during the January-March period of 2019-20, the lender said in a regulatory filing.
Total income of the bank during the March quarter of the last financial year rose to Rs 81,326.96 crore, from Rs 76,027.51 crore in the same period of 2019-20.
During the quarter under review, net interest income rose 19 per cent to Rs 27,067 crore, from Rs 22,767 crore in the same period a year ago.
On a consolidated basis, the bank reported a 60 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 7,270.25 crore, compared to Rs 4,557.49 crore in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2019-20.
With regard to asset quality, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank improved to 4.98 per cent of gross advances as on March 31, 2021, as against 6.15 per cent in the same period of 2020.
It further said that in absolute terms gross NPAs declined to Rs 1,26,389 crore in March 2021, from Rs 1,49,092 crore in the same period last year.
Net NPA or bad loans too came down to 1.50 per cent as on March 31, 2021 from 2.23 per cent in the year-ago period. The net NPA in absolute terms eased to Rs 36,810 crore, from Rs 51,871 crore in March 2020.
As a result, the provision for bad loans moderated by 17 per cent to Rs 9,914 crore, as compared to Rs 11,894 crore in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal.
However, slippages more than doubled to Rs 21,934 crore, from Rs 8,105 crore in the fourth quarter of the 2019-20.
For the entire financial year 2020-21, the bank reported a 41 per cent jump in standalone profit at Rs 20,110.17 crore, from Rs 14,488.11 crore in the previous financial year.
The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 4 per share or 400 per cent on the face value for the financial year ended March 31, 2021.
The date of payment of dividend is fixed on June 18, 2021 and the dividend warrants will be dispatched before the date of payment, which will be payable at par at all branches of State Bank of India, irrespective of the amount, it said.
During the year, the net interest margin (NIM) or the spread improved to 3.26 per cent from 3.19 per cent in the previous fiscal.
Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) improved by 68 basis points to 13.74 per cent as on March 2021.
At the same time, the Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) improved by 413 basis points to 87.75 per cent, it said.
Shares of SBI closed at Rs 401.10 per unit, up 4.30 per cent on BSE.
