SBI shrugs off Q4 net fall; shares climb over 6 per cent

Shares of SBI on Friday surged over 6 per cent despite the company reporting a 66 per cent slump in standalone profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31.

The stock jumped 6.42 per cent to settle at Rs 195.55 on BSE. During the day, it soared 9.93 per cent to Rs 202. On NSE, shares of the country's largest lender climbed 6.38 per cent to close at Rs 195.90.

Led by the rise in the stock, the company's market valuation advanced by Rs 9,160.11 crore to Rs 1,51,801.11 crore. The stock was the top gainer among the bluechips on both Sensex and Nifty during the day.

On the volume front, 114 lakh shares were traded on BSE and over 8 crore shares changed hands on NSE during the day. "SBI reported PAT was more or less in-line with expectations," said Siddharth Purohit, Senior Equity Research Analyst- Banking, Angel Broking.

SBI today posted 66 per cent slump in standalone profit to Rs 1,263.81 crore for the fourth quarter of last fiscal ended March 31, as it more than doubled the provisions for bad loans.

It had reported net profit of Rs 3,742.02 crore in the corresponding, January-March quarter of the previous fiscal 2014-15. "Total income (standalone) has increased to Rs 53,526.97 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 from Rs 48,616.41 crore for the same quarter year ago", SBI said in a regulatory filing.

For the entire 2015-16 fiscal, it reported 24 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 9,950.65 crore. SBI's net profit in 2014-15 stood at Rs 13,101.57 crore. On the asset front, SBI's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans rose to 6.5 per cent of gross advances as of March 2016, from 4.25 per cent a year ago.

In absolute terms, the gross NPAs reached Rs 98,172.80 crore, as against Rs 56,725.34 crore. Likewise, net NPAs were 3.81 per cent (Rs 55,807.02 crore) of net advances as of March 31, 2016 as against 2.12 per cent (Rs 27,590.58 crore) a year ago.