Shares of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur were up nearly 3% at Rs 349 after the state-owned bank's net interest income (NII) showed 33% year-on-year growth at Rs 741 crore in the fourth quarter. The net interest margin improved to 3.65% for the fourth quarter of 2014, up from 3.14% in the fourth quarter of 2013, said B Sriram, managing director of the bank.
The bank registered 33% growth in the net profit at Rs 238 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2014, compared with Rs 178 crore in the same quarter last fiscal because of significant improvement in interest margins.
While bottom-line showed a good performance, its asset quality came under further pressure due to stress in the system. The gross non-performing loans rose to Rs 2,733 crore (4.18%) in March 2014 as against Rs 2,119 crore (3.76%) a year ago.
Over 408,000 shares were traded on both the stock exchanges so far.
