SBI shares slip nearly 2% on muted earnings

Shares of State Bank of India today fell by nearly 2 per cent after the company reported a 34 per cent decline in net profit for the third quarter ended December, 2013.
Shares of the country's largest bank ended at Rs 1,475.10, down 1.64 per cent on the BSE. During the day, the stock lost 2.91 per cent to Rs 1,455.95.
At the National Stock Exchange, the scrip closed at Rs 1,473, down 1.84 per cent from its previous close.
"SBI reported weak performance both on the operating as well as on the asset quality front," said Vaibhav Agrawal, VP- Research - Banking, Angel Broking.

SBI today posted 34 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 2,234.34 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 on account of higher provisioning for bad loans.
The country's largest bank had a net profit of Rs 3,396 crore on standalone basis in the October-December quarter of 2012-13.

The total provisioning for non-performing assets rose to Rs 3,428.59 crore during the December quarter, up from Rs 2,766.18 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, SBI said in a filing on the BSE.
Total income of the bank rose to Rs 39,061 crore during the third quarter from Rs 33,992 crore in the same period a year ago.

The gross Non-performing Assets (NPAs), which represents portion of bad loans, stood at Rs 67,799.33 crore at the end of December, up from Rs 53,457 crore in the year ago period.