SBI Q3 consolidated net dips 8.4 pc to Rs 3,304 crore

Its total income for the quarter under review stood at Rs 32,231.45, while the same was at Rs 29,368.14 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2008, a rise of 9.08 per cent.

Further, the bank said that the figures of the current period include the working results of the branches of erstwhile State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS) consequent to its merger with the Bank in August 2008. Hence, the figures of the previous period are strictly not comparable.

At the same time, the standalone results of SBI for the current quarter stood at Rs 2,479.05 crore against the same quarter of fiscal 2009 at Rs 2,478.42 crore, a nominal rise of 0.02 per cent.  Total Income is Rs 21,145.40 crore against Rs 20305.90 crore in the third quarter  of 2008. Briefing reporters, SBI Chairman O P Bhatt pointed out that the “operating cost of the bank during the quarter has gone up,” even as it improved on various other fronts like CASA (current account saving account) improved by 636 basis points and credit to deposit ratio improved at 71.4 per cent versus 64 per cent on Y-o-Y (year-on-year) basis.

While global advances grew by 19 per cent, domestic at 17 per cent, the bank has a surplus liquidity of Rs 75,000 crore as at end-December, and that of net interest margin at 2.83 per cent, Bhatt said.  The bank’s net NPAs rose to Rs 11,270.79 crore in the third quarter of the financial year 2009-10 as compared to Rs 6978.25 crore in the previous year, while provision cover was at 40.24 per cent in Q3 versus 42.86 per cent in Q2.  However, Bhatt expects “rise in NPA in the coming quarters.”  Going forward, he said: “We will continue to restructure loans as going forward.”
Its other income increased to Rs 3,365.71 crore from Rs 3,225.6 crore and provisions went up to Rs 856.61 crore versus Rs 196.83 crore, while treasury income was down by Rs 234 crore since last year.  Net NPAs stood at 1.88 per cent and provision coverage ratio at 56 per cent, SBI has provided Rs 440 crore as additional provision.  Deposit growth stood at 11 per cent on Y-o-Y basis during the period under review.

Meanwhile, the SBI board at its meeting held this day declared an interim dividend of Rs 10 per share (equivalent to 100 per cent) for the current fiscal.