State Bank Of India Gains Ahead Of March Quarter Earnings

Shares of the country's largest lender - State Bank of India - rose as much as 2.22 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 393.10 on the BSE ahead of its March quarter earnings due later in the day. Analysts at Emkay Global expect limited impact on loan growth for SBI due to partial lockdowns induced by the second wave, as the bank's retail book is largely driven by home/car loans (contributing 67 per cent of retail loans) which would see limited impact and come back with a vengeance once the lockdown is lifted.

In the previous quarter, State Bank of India's profit fell 7 per cent annually to Rs 5,196 crore from Rs 5,583 crore during the same quarter last year. SBI's profit was hurt by higher provisions and a dip in income from its corporate banking operations.

SBI's net interest income or the difference between interest earned and interest expended rose nearly 4 per cent to Rs 28,820 crore as against Rs 27,779 crore in the year ago period.

During the quarter SBI's asset quality saw an improvement as its gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a percentage of total advances came in at 4.77 per cent compared with 5.28 per cent. Total gross NPAs came in at Rs 1,17,244 crore.

As of 12:40 pm, State Bank of India shares traded 1.63 per cent higher at Rs 391, outperforming the Sensex which was up 1.35 per cent.