New Delhi: The country's biggest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday paid a dividend of Rs 6,959 crore for the financial year 2023-24 to the government.

The dividend cheque was presented to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman by SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara in the presence of Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi.

"Smt @nsitharaman receives a dividend cheque of Rs 6959.29 crore for FY 2023-24 from @TheOfficialSBI Chairman Shri Dinesh Kumar Khara," the finance ministry said in a post on X.

SBI declared a dividend of Rs 13.70 per share for the financial year 2023-24, higher than Rs 11.30 per equity distributed for the previous year.

During 2023-24, the bank earned a record consolidated net profit of Rs 67,085 crore against Rs 55,648 crore in the preceding year.

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