SBI net profit rises by three per cent:stabilises market share

Kolkata, May 12 (UNI) State Bank of India, the country's largest public sector bank, has posted a marginal increase of three per cent in the net profit at Rs. 4,541 crore in 2006-07 from Rs.4,406.67 crore in the previous year while recording about ten per cent growth in business at Rs. 500,000 crore from Rs. 4.58 lakh crore.

Announcing the financial results, SBI Chairman O P Bhatt said the deposits of the bank were up by 14.60 per cent at Rs. 435,521 crore from Rs. 380,046 crore and gross advances shot up to Rs.

342,232 crore from Rs. 267,458 crore registering about 28 per cent rise during the period.

The operating profit of the Bank also rose by 21.23 per cent at Rs.10,000 crore in 2006-07 from Rs. 8,249 crore in the previous year.

Describing the results as "extremely good", Mr Bhatt said after a long period, SBI had been able to stabilise its fluctuating market share at an average of 15 per cent both in advance and deposit and targeted one per cent increase in both areas every year.

"The Bank had been losing market share for the past few years despite occasional gains. But now we have been able to stabilise it following a six-month effort after the half-yearly results. We have set a target of increasing the market share by one per cent every year from this fiscal," he said.

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