The country's largest lender on Friday afternoon reported a profit of Rs 838.40 crore for the March-2019 quarter. The number is way lower than the estimated Rs 4,840.8 crore by 19 analysts at Bloomberg. In the same quarter of the previous year, the State Bank of India (SBI) reported a loss of Rs 7,718.17 crore.

Shares of SBI slipped by 0.75 percent down to Rs 297, soon after the results were announced.

The lender improved in asset quality in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2019-20 with percentage of gross non-performing assets (NPAs) easing to 7.73 percent from 8.71 percent in the December quarter. Its net NPA improved from 3.95 percent to 3.01 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

The bank's provisions and contingencies for the period under review stood at Rs 16,501.89 crore as against Rs 28,096.07 crore in March 2018. In the December 2018 quarter, the figure stood at Rs 6,006.22 crore. Provision coverage ratio as on 31 March 2019 stood at 78.73 percent. In the previous quarter, the lender posted a profit of Rs 3954.81 crore.

Gross NPAs declined to Rs 1.73 lakh crore from Rs 1.88 lakh crore on a sequential basis and in absolute terms. In March 2018, it was at Rs 2.23 lakh crore.

Net interest income rose by 14.91 percent to Rs 22,953.83 crore for March 2019-quarter as against Rs 19,974.28 crore last year.

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