SBI rebounds 6% from day's low on improved asset quality in March quarter

State Bank of India (SBI) shares rose 4 per cent to Rs 311, bouncing back 6 per cent from day's low of Rs 292 in intra-day trade on the BSE, after the bank reported improvement in assets quality in last quarter of financial year 2018-19 (Q4FY19).

The bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio declined to 7.53 per cent against 8.71 per cent in the previous quarter and 10.91 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Net NPAs during the period came in at 3.01 per cent against 3.95 per cent in the previous quarter and 5.73 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

The bank’s GNPA was lowest since March 2017 quarter, while net NPA was better in past 13 quarters. The Centrum Broking had predicted that SBI would report a gross NPA ratio of 7.7 per cent.

In absolute terms, the gross NPA was down to Rs 1.72 trillion from Rs 1.88 trillion, while net NPA was at Rs 65,895 crore against Rs 80,944 crore, QoQ.

SBI has reported net profit of Rs 838 crore for Q4FY19 on the back of higher provisions. The bank had reported loss of Rs 7,718 crore in a year ago period.

The bank’s net interest income (NII) during the quarter under review rose 14.9 per cent to Rs 22,954 crore versus Rs 19,974 crore.

At 03:00 pm, the stock was trading 3 per cent higher at Rs 308 on the BSE, as compared to 0.14 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter more-than-doubled with a combined 54.6 million shares changing hands on the BSE and NSE so far.