SBI's rating unaffected despite slippage in asset quality: S&P

Leading ratings agency Standard & Poor's today said the rating for the State Bank of India (SBI) was not affected despite a significant slippage in the asset quality of the country's largest state-owned lender.

"We anticipate that SBI's credit provisioning costs for the fiscal ending March 31, 2012, will not be significantly higher than the projected credit losses based on our risk-adjusted capital framework," a release from the ratings agency said.

It, however, noted that the bank's credit losses during the current fiscal so far had been significantly higher compared to its domestic peers.

SBI, which reported a fresh slippage of Rs 8,161 crore and an 85% rise in provisioning yesterday, saw a rise in gross NPA to 4.61% in the third quarter of the current fiscal from 3.17% reported an year earlier.

Similarly, the net NPA also rose to 2.22% from 1.61% reported in the corresponding period last year.