SBI Q4 net profit rises 6% to ₹19,684 crore; stock tumbles over 7% as core operating trends disappoint

State Bank of India reported a 5.6% year-on-year rise in standalone net profit for the March quarter at ₹19,683.75 crore, compared with ₹18,642.59 crore in the same period last year. The bank’s board also declared a dividend of ₹17.35 per equity share for the financial year ended March 31, 2026, with May 16 fixed as the record date and June 4 as the payment date.

Despite that, SBI’s shares slid 7.42% to an intraday low of ₹1,010.90 apiece on the NSE after the results, as investors appeared to focus on the quality of the quarterly earnings rather than the headline annual profit figure.

Core quarterly performance looked softer

SBI’s standalone total income for the March quarter came in at ₹1,40,411.77 crore, lower than ₹1,43,876.06 crore a year earlier. Operating profit also fell to ₹27,704.18 crore from ₹31,286.04 crore in the year-ago period, indicating pressure on the bank’s core earnings momentum. The March-quarter performance also came after SBI had posted a record standalone net profit of ₹21,028.15 crore in the December quarter, raising investor expectations ahead of the Q4 results

A key pressure point was other income, which dropped sharply to ₹17,314.10 crore in Q4 from ₹24,366.67 crore a year ago. Since SBI’s notes say other income includes fees, forex and derivative earnings, dividend from subsidiaries, recoveries from written-off accounts, and profit or loss on sale and revaluation of investments, the decline likely reflected weaker treasury and market-linked income during the quarter.

Full-year profit got a one-off lift

For the full year, SBI posted standalone net profit of ₹80,032.01 crore, up from ₹70,900.63 crore in FY25. However, the annual number was boosted by an exceptional gain of ₹4,593.22 crore arising from the divestment of 13.18% of the bank’s stake in Yes Bank in September 2025. That meant the full-year earnings print looked stronger than the underlying March-quarter operating trend.

To be sure, lower provisions helped support quarterly profitability. Provisions and contingencies declined to ₹2,872.16 crore in Q4 from ₹6,441.69 crore a year earlier, cushioning the impact of weaker operating profit and softer other income.

Asset quality improves, capital stays strong

On the asset quality front, SBI reported gross NPAs of 1.49% as of March 31, 2026, improving from 1.82% a year earlier. Net NPAs stood at 0.39%, unchanged from the December quarter and lower than 0.47% a year ago, while provision coverage ratio was 74.36% and PCR including AUCA stood at 91.97%. The bank’s Basel III capital adequacy ratio rose to 15.40% at the end of March, with CET1 at 12.29%, and the lender had also raised ₹25,000 crore through a QIB issue in July 2025.