State Bank of India on Wednesday, November 3 reported a 66.7 per cent year-on-year surge in standalone profits for the second quarter of the current fiscal at Rs 7,627 crore for the quarter ending September 30 as compared to a profit of Rs 4,576.16 crore it had posted in the corresponding quarter last year.
The lender posted its highest ever quarterly standalone profit in the July-September quarter notwithstanding the one-time loss of Rs 7,418.4 crore it bore due to revision in the family pension payable to employees covered under the 11th bi-partite settlement. SBI stated that it “fully provided Rs 7,418 crores due to change in family pension rules, even as regulator granted dispensation to amortise in five years.”
The asset quality of the lender in the quarter under review also improved as the gross non-performing loan ratio fell 42 base points sequentially to 4.9 per cent. Likewise, the net NPA ratio came in at 1.52 per cent as compared to 1.77 per cent in the previous quarter, contracting 25 base points sequentially.
Moreover, the bank’s net interest income (NII) jumped 10.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 31,183.90 crore in the second quarter, surpassing the forecast of Rs 28,912 crore made by analysts. Meanwhile, the domestic net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter was at 3.50 per cent, expanding 16 basis points YoY.
In a filing to the BSE, State Bank of India also disclosed that its whole bank advances increased 6.7 per cent from the same period last year, standing at Rs 25.3 lakh crore. The bank primarily attributed the growth in loan advances to the increase of 15.17 per cent YoY in personal retail advances and foreign office advances, which were up 16.18 per cent during the quarter.
Home loans were up 10.74 per cent YoY, accounting for 24 per cent of the bank’s domestic advances. SBI further added that “including the growth in corporate bonds, the loan book has grown 6.21 per cent YoY.” Total deposits for the quarter rose 9.77 per cent YoY to Rs 38.09 lakh crore, out of which current account deposits increased 19.20 per cent YoY while saving bank deposits climbed 10.55 per cent YoY.
The slippage ratio for the September quarter stood at 0.66 per cent, declining sequentially from 2.47 per cent in the April-June quarter. Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) came in at 87.68 per cent while credit cost fell 51 base points YoY to 0.43 per cent. Following the earnings release, the stock price of SBI was trading 1.72 higher at Rs 530.65 apiece on the BSE.