Khara: SBI's profits in 4 years higher than previous 64; stock not priced right by investors

Outgoing SBI chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara on Saturday said the country's largest lender's net profits in the past four years under him have been higher than the cumulative figures for 64 years before that.

However, Khara rued that the bank having a huge network of over 22,000 branches, and ammunition in terms of reserves and product suite, is not getting the "right value".

"In the last four years, we have earned a net profit of Rs 1.63 lakh crore.

The same for the 64 years before that was Rs 1.45 lakh crore," Khara, whose term ends later this month, told reporters in what was his last post-earnings interaction.

When he assumed office, the yearly profit for the lender stood at Rs 14,000 crore and the same has now gone up to Rs 17,000 crore per quarter, Khara said.

He further said under his leadership, the bank has improved on the productivity front as well, with profit per employee growing by nearly six times to Rs 30 lakh.

He exuded confidence that the bank, which reported a less than 1 per cent profit growth in the June quarter, will accelerate on the front to post an over 16 per cent growth to take the PAT (profit after ax) to Rs 1 lakh crore in FY25.

The outgoing chairman also said that his successor will not give a jolt to the profits by way of higher provisions because all the managing directors have prepared the balance sheet together.

The powerful performance on the profit front is not winning the hearts of investors, Khara rued.

On the market capitalisation of SBI zooming to Rs 1.92 lakh crore from Rs 0.84 lakh crore in the last five years and asked if he's happy about it, Khara replied in the negative.

"I am not happy. How can I be happy? We are not getting our right value, look at the other players in the market," he said.

The "banker to every Indian" has huge strengths like its branch network of over 22,000, a strong brand recall and ammunition like comfortable liquidity buffers, he said.

The average balance in a savings account is three times higher than the nearest competition, he said, adding that the average saving account balance has improved to Rs 17 lakh crore in June 2024 from Rs 12 lakh crore in March 2020.

To a question on whether he has any regrets, Khara said there are none.