MUMBAI (Reuters) - State Bank of India, the country's biggest lender, reported a 4 percent gain in quarterly net profit, the smallest increase in more than a year, as higher provisions for bad loans and slower loan demand hurt growth.
Standalone net profit rose to 33.96 billion rupees for the quarter ended December from 32.6 billion rupees a year earlier, the bank said on Thursday.
Analysts, on average, had expected a net profit of 36.96 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
SBI's standalone non-performing loan ratio of 2.59 percent of assets for the quarter compares with 2.2 percent a year earlier.
(Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)
