SBI net rises 4% to Rs 3396 crore

State Bank of India on Thurday reported a marginal 4.08 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 3,396 crore (Rs 33.96 billion) for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012, mainly on account of higher provisioning for bad loans.

State Bank of India had a net profit of Rs 3,263 crore (Rs 32.63 billion) in the October-December quarter of 2011-12 fiscal.

The total provisioning of the bank stood at Rs 4,394.70 during the December quarter, up from Rs 3,996.97 crore (Rs 39.96 billion) in the corresponding period last fiscal, SBI said in a statement.

The gross non-performing assets, which represents portion of bad loans, stood at Rs 53,457 crore (Rs 534.57 billion) at the end of December, up from Rs 40,098 crore (Rs 400.98 billion) in the year ago period.

The gross NPA as a percentage of total loan rose to 5.30 per cent during the quarter, from 4.61

per cent in the year ago period.

The net NPA was at 2.59 per cent of loans in the December quarter.

The Net Interest Income, however, declined to Rs 11,154 crore (Rs 111.54 billion) during the quarter, from Rs 11,518 crore (Rs 115.18 billion) in the year-ago period.

Total income of the bank rose to Rs 33,992 crore (Rs 339.92 billion) during the third quarter, from Rs 29,787 crore (Rs 297.87 billion) in the corresponding period a year ago.

On a consolidated basis, SBI's net profit rose 7.64 per cent to Rs 4,648 crore (Rs 46.48 billion) during the October-December quarter. It was Rs 4,318 crore (Rs 43.18 billion) in the year ago period.

Shares of SBI were trading at Rs 2,233.30, down 0.96 per cent in the afternoon trade on the BSE.