The State Bank of India on Friday posted a massive net loss of Rs 2,416 crore for the third quarter of 2017-’18. This was contrary to Bloomberg analysts’ expectations of a net profit of Rs 2,059 crore, Moneycontrol reported.

The bank had made a net profit of Rs 2,610 crore in the corresponding quarter for 2016-’17.

State Bank of India Chairperson Rajnish Kumar said the huge loss incurred in the October-December 2017 period was the result of changes in the return to investors on bonds, due to which it had to provide Rs 3,400 crore as losses in the financial statement. Kumar said that the lack of major sales of investments also impacted profits.

SBI’s net interest income – the difference between interest earned and interest expended – grew by 5.17% to Rs 18,687.52 crore during the October-December 2017 quarter.

Deposits grew by just 1.86% year-on-year to Rs 26.51 lakh crore, the bank said. The growth in retail loans stood at 13.59%, and that in agricultural loans at 5.88%.

The SBI’s gross non-performing assets increased to 10.35% of gross advances as compared to 9.83% in the July-September 2017 quarter. Its net non-performing assets rose from 5.43% to 5.61%.