The State Bank of India's (SBI) Hyderabad branch took the lead in the sale of Electoral Bonds (EBs) in October, as Assembly elections in five states drew near. The branch accounted for 33% of the total EB sales, which amounted to Rs 1,148.38 crore, with the Rs 1 crore denomination being particularly popular among buyers. These figures were revealed during the sale period of the 28th tranche of EBs that ran from October 4 to 14.
Despite the high volume of sales, political parties in Hyderabad only redeemed Rs 83.63 crore (7%) of these bonds. This information was uncovered through a Right to Information (RTI) query by transparency campaigner Commodore Lokesh K Batra.
Batra's query further revealed that SBI sold a total of 2,012 individual EBs, with over half (1,095) being of the Rs 1 crore denomination. Additionally, it was discovered that 25 political parties had accounts specifically dedicated to EB redemption.
InvestingPro Insights
In light of the recent developments at the State Bank of India (SBI), InvestingPro provides invaluable insights into the bank's financial standing. SBI has seen an acceleration in revenue growth, as evidenced by a 5.67% increase in the last twelve months as of Q2 2023. This aligns with InvestingPro's first tip that the bank's revenue growth has been accelerating.
Moreover, the bank's market cap stands at 98.54M USD, indicating its substantial presence in the banking industry, which is reinforced by InvestingPro's tip that SBI is a prominent player in the Banks industry.
However, InvestingPro also warns of potential financial pitfalls for SBI. The bank's earnings per share (EPS) is at -0.08 USD, suggesting low earnings quality, as free cash flow trails net income. This is in line with InvestingPro's sixth tip, warning of SBI's low earnings quality.
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