SBI Q3 net profit dips 34% at Rs 2,234 cr

State Bank of India on Friday posted a 34 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 2,234.34 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 on account of higher provisioning for bad loans.

The country's largest bank had a net profit of Rs 3,396 crore on standalone basis in the October-December quarter of 2012-13.

The total provisioning for non-performing assets rose to Rs 3,428.59 crore (Rs 34.28 billion) during the December quarter, up from Rs 2,766.18 crore (Rs 27.66 billion) in the corresponding period last fiscal, SBI said in a filing on the BSE.

Total income of the bank rose to Rs 39,061 crore (Rs 390.61 billion) during the third quarter from Rs 33,992 crore in the same period a year ago.

The gross non-performing assets, which represents portion of bad loans, stood at Rs 67,799.33 crore (Rs 677.99 billion) at the end of December, up from Rs 53,457

crore in the year ago period.

As of December 31, the bank's portfolio quality declined, with gross NPAs at 5.73 per cent of gross advances, as against 5.30 per cent a year ago.

Its net NPAs during the third quarter rose to 3.24 per cent, from 2.59 per cent in the period a year earlier.

On a consolidated basis, the SBI group net profit plummeted by 40 per cent to Rs 2,838 crore (Rs 28.38 billion) during the October-December quarter.

It was at Rs 4,648 crore in the year ago period.

Shares of SBI were trading at Rs 1,460.80, down 2.59 per cent in the afternoon trade on the BSE.

During the three quarters (April-December) of 2013-14, the bank's net profit on standalone basis declined by 27 per cent to Rs 7,850.43 crore (Rs 78.5 billion), as against Rs 10,805.76 crore in same period of 2012-13.

Its total income rose to Rs 1,12,493.42 crore (Rs 1,124.93 billion) in the nine months, from Rs 99,361.07 crore in the year-ago period.