India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has affirmed State Bank of India's (SBI) long-term issuer rating at 'AAA' with a stable outlook.

The rating reflects the high probability of extraordinary support from the government of India (GoI), if required by SBI. Ind-Ra’s support expectation is backed by the bank’s quasi-sovereign risk status and huge systemic importance.

GoI owns a majority stake in SBI (60.18% at end-March 2016). SBI is the largest bank in India in terms loans, deposits and branch network with a loan market share of close to 20% at FYE16. The bank has a pan-India presence with a robust network of 16,784 branches at FYE16. SBI is the sole banker (of organised credit) in many of the economically backward geographies in India.

The bank has been the beneficiary of steady capital injections by GoI. The bank has received Rs 53.93 billion from GoI as a part of the Indradhanush programme in FY16.

In its recent report, Ind-Ra continues to highlight that PSBs overall would continue to require a significant amount of capital even at a constrained growth trajectory during FY17-FY19. Also, following the clean-up under the asset quality review, NPL aging would continue to pressure credit costs well into FY17.

Shares of the bank gained Rs 0.6, or 0.26%, to trade at  Rs 227.80.  The total volume of shares traded  was  215,371 at the BSE (10.13 a.m., Thursday).