Shares of State Bank of India (SBI) witnessed volatility in early trade on the bourses today after the country’s largest lender announced a 45.6 per cent fall in standalone net profit for the first quarter of this fiscal.

Shares of SBI opened on a weaker note on the Bombay Stock Exchange and fell to a low of Rs 2,165.30, down 1.28 per cent from their previous close.

However, the scrip subsequently rallied and was trading 1.75 per cent higher than its previous close at Rs 2,231.90 at 1022 hours.

Similar movement was seen on the National Stock Exchange, where the stock opened at Rs 2,180, down 0.77 per cent from its previous close and was later trading at Rs 2,232, up 1.59 per cent from its last close at 10.23 a.m.

On the volume front, 2.39 lakh SBI shares exchanged hands on BSE and over 10.60 lakh shares were traded on NSE by 10.23 a.m.

SBI reported a standalone net profit of Rs 1,584 crore for the first quarter of this fiscal, a 45.6 per cent fall vis-a-vis in the year-ago period, due to higher provisioning for bad loans and depreciation on investments.

On a consolidated basis, the bank’s net profit grew by 25.3 per cent to Rs 2,512.4 crore in the quarter from Rs 3,365.2 crore in the year-ago period.

“We had to make higher loan provisions as per the stiffer prudential provisioning norms of the Reserve Bank across all grades of assets,” the SBI Chairman, Mr Pratip Chaudhuri, told presspersons after announcing the quarterly numbers.

There was an unexpected event in the form of depreciation in bonds and the loss in this regard amounted to Rs 1,048 crore. The bank also registered a loss of Rs 300 crore on its equity investments, he had said.

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