Mumbai: State Bank of India, India’s biggest bank, posted stellar fourth quarter results and said that the impact of the Covid-19 related disruption on the bank’s books will be seen only from September. Net profit rose more than four-fold to Rs 3,581 crore thanks to a one-time gain of Rs 2,731 crore from the sale of stake in SBI Cards but there was significant improvement in both gross and net bad loans ratio. Provisions improved year-on-year and so did slippages at Rs 8,105 crore.
“For a more authentic assessment of the stress on our books we have to wait another three months before we start arriving at any conclusions,” said Rajnish Kumar, chairman, SBI. “Our exposure to the severely stressed sectors is very minuscule and as the situation stands, our assessment is we will be able to manage our asset quality well. We see the NPA meter starting in September.”
The bank did not set aside any Covid-related contingency provision unlike other lenders. SBI said it was relying on its high provision coverage ratio of 83.62%.
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