SBI to invest in high quality stocks only: Chaudhuri - Business Standard

Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) will invest in high quality stocks only which have good trading volumes and less volatility, Chairman of the bank Pratip Chaudhuri said today. "We have decided to do trading in high quality stocks only, preferably the Nifty stocks which have good volumes and less volatility," Chaudhuri said at a news conference here. Earlier during the day, the bank announced its fourth quarter results for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, reporting a 18.54% decline in its net profit at Rs 3,299 crore. Chaudhuri said during 2012-13 the bank earned a profit of Rs 600 crore from the trading account and the entire equity portfolio has been overhauled. To improve the quality of assets, SBI will discourage below investment grade accounts, he added. "Even if we take below investment grade accounts, then those will be backed by enough collateral security," he said. During the last quarter of the last financial year, fresh slippages were to the tune of Rs 5,868 crore, which was equivalent to cash recovery and upgradation of assets. The provision-coverage ratio had been increased to 66.58% during the last quarter of FY13 compared to 61.49% in the preceding quarter. In the last quarter of FY13, there had been an increase in substandard and doubtful assets for which substantial provisioning had been made, Chaudhuri said. Gross NPA of the bank in the last quarter stood at 4.75% while net NPA at 2.10%. via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEh52I4-8flxEY1nlRhui9mlh6GPQ&url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/sbi-to-invest-in-high-quality-stocks-only-chaudhuri-113052300937_1.html

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2910127