State Bank of India Q4 net profit falls, shares drop

REUTERS - State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, posted its first quarterly net profit drop in two years, missing market estimates after being dragged down by lower interest income and higher provisions for loan losses.

The state-run bank posted a net profit of 32.99 billion rupees in the quarter ended March, compared with 40.50 billion rupees a year ago. Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, fell 4.4 percent to 110.8 billion rupees.

Analysts, on average, had expected a net profit of 37.9 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Swati Pandey in MUMBAI; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)