SBI consolidated profit rises 16.3% to Rs 4,318 cr

County's largest bank SBI on Monday reported 16.3 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,318.08 crore (Rs 43.18 billion) for the third quarter ended December 31, 2011.

State Bank of India had reported a profit of Rs 3,710.48 crore (Rs 37.1 billion) in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

The total income of SBI (consolidated) stood at Rs 43,155.95 crore (Rs 431.56 billion) during the quarter under review, up 16.7 per cent Rs 36,966.87 crore (Rs 369.67 billion) in the year-ago period.

SBI's stand-alone net profit went up by 15.3 per cent to Rs 3,263.04 crore (Rs 32.64 billion) in the third quarter, from Rs 2,828.06 crore (Rs 28.28 billion) in the same quarter of 2010-11.

Stand-alone total income rose by 20.4 per cent to Rs 29,787.37 crore (Rs 297.87 billion) from Rs 24,726.73 crore (Rs 247.27 billion) in the same quarter of the last fiscal.

Commenting on the third quarter number SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said, "The net profit which had plummeted in Q4 last fiscal has again started its upward journey. The first quarter was a weak quarter because we had backlog of previous provisioning so that came to Rs 1,584 crore."

This quarter, he said, "we have broken the threshold of Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) without any extra-ordinary or windfall gain."

Net interest Margin (NIM) story has been very strong, he said, adding, the it is up at 3.82 per cent from 3.40 per cent.

"Tier I capital stands at 7.59 per cent because Tier I we are not allowed to supplement during the financial year. But if we project the total year's profit at a conservative level of Rs 10,000 or 11,000 crore (Rs 100 - Rs 110 billion) and add on Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) capital infusion, we are likely to get, we are confident that as on March 12 we would cross the ratio of Tier I of 9 per cent," he said.

Thereafter, the bank will reach to rating agency particularly Moody's for re-rating of the bank, he said.