State Bank Of Patiala Not Under Icra Watch

The State Bank of Patiala (SBP) has clarified that the bank has not been put under any watch by the Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency (Icra).

The clarification has come in response to a report (headlined State Bank of Patiala under Icra watch) published in Business Standard on January 10.

The report stated that Icra had put the bank in its surveillance list.

The Business Standard report was based on the contents of Icras report, Rating Profile November 1997, which had indeed showed SBP under Surveillance.

Further, the chapter on SBP stated that the general downturn in the economy was reflected in low industrial growth of 6.7 per cent down from 11.7 per cent in the previous year. This led to substantial generation of NPAs. A majority of these accounts have been banking with SBP since long and were affected by the slowdown in the economy. In its clarification, SBP, however, has noted that Icra as per its normal practice undertook surveillance of the ratings given to the bank for any possible change.

 

The review resulted in reconfirmation of the earlier ratings, which were the highest possible and indicate the highest safety, the bank has noted. Also, in terms of other parameters like capital adequacy, asset quality and earnings performance, SBP ranks among the best public sector banks.