SBI shares rally 9% in 1 month and 19% YTD; India's largest bank to report Q2 earnings on November 4; here is what to focus on

Over the past 12 months, shares of the lender have risen nearly 14%.

In comparison, the Nifty PSU Bank index has jumped around 10% in 1 month, 27% in six months, and around 23% in 12 months.

The public sector bank shares have seen heavy buying in the past few sessions following the news reports that the central government is mulling major reforms in bank ownership, opening up the space for foreign investors and a higher threshold for rights.

Foreign interest in India's banking industry is on the rise, as evidenced by Dubai-based Emirates NBD's recent $3 billion purchase of a 60% stake in RBL Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp's $1.6 billion acquisition of a 20% stake in YES Bank, which the Japanese lender later raised by another 4.99%.

India's robust economic growth – averaging 8% over the past three fiscal years – has led to rising demand for credit, increasing the attractiveness of the country's lenders. Deals in India's financial sector jumped 127% to $8 billion between January and September, the report said further.

SBI Q2 Earnings: Things to keep an eye on

Apart from key metrics such as net profit, credit growth across segments, asset quality, net interest income, and net interest margin, management's commentary on loan demand, retail credit growth, and outlook will shape investors' sentiment going ahead.

Guidance for the next two quarters and beyond, as well as the business and expansion plans, will also be keenly tracked by market participants.

SBI: What the chairman said at Global Fintech Fest

In October 2025, SBI chairman C S Setty said that given the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to permit banks to allow acquisition financing, entities like the country's largest lender are "well versed" to handle the upcoming line of business.

Shetty said the shift to an expected credit loss (ECL)-based system of asset provisioning will not impact the balance sheets of banks, given the extended transition period given by the central bank.

"We have been doing outbound merger and acquisition financing for Indian corporates acquiring overseas entities. I think banks like SBI are well versed in acquisition financing," Setty told reporters on the sidelines of the annual Global Fintech Fest (GFF) in Mumbai.

It is worth noting that the RBI had announced a decision to allow banks to engage in acquisition financing, following a public request made by Setty itself a few weeks ago.

On the ECL, where the central bank announced the final guidelines in October itself, the SBI chairman said the country's largest lender is technologically ready in terms of models, but some adjustments may still be required.

"The long transition time that is given, we believe that there will be limited impact on the balance sheet of banks," Setty said. The shift to ECL from the current post-loss provisioning will commence in FY27, and banks have been given a five-year period for a complete transition.

Meanwhile, speaking at the fest, Setty said there is a need for banks to improve the collection capabilities for credit disbursed through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

The chairman said that from a disbursement perspective, the UPI platform presents several strengths due to its ubiquitous presence and the data it delivers.

Setty pointed out that SBI is working on developing a receivables-based vendor financing option for merchants who use UPI.

The bank, which serves 52 crore customers, is also exploring the use of UPI for disbursing farm loans by linking the Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) with the RuPay UPI credit solution.

Setty said 34% of the outstanding Rupay UPI credit cards are issued by its subsidiary SBI Cards, and the same accounts for 16% of the spending.

Listing out the gains made by SBI through the PM Jan Dhan Yojana, where it has onboarded 150 million customers, Setty said that credit delivery has not picked up as much through these accounts and mentioned that the business correspondent network across the country can be utilised for extending loans.

SBI: Latest updates

In late October 2025, SBI said it had received two prestigious awards from New York-based Global Finance at an event held during the World Bank/IMF annual meetings.

The country's largest lender bagged two titles – World's Best Consumer Bank 2025 and Best Bank in India 2025.

This dual recognition reinforces SBI's position as a global banking leader committed to innovation, financial inclusion, and customer excellence, SBI said.

In a separate announcement, India's largest lender said it plans to hire around 3,500 officers to bolster its operations and enhance service delivery nationwide.

“The bank has recruited 505 Probationary Officers (POs) in June, and the process to fill a similar number of vacancies is on... applications have been received,” SBI Deputy Managing Director (HR) & Chief Development Officer (CDO) Kishore Kumar Poludasu told PTI in an interview.

As regards specialist officers, he said, around 1,300 odd officers have already been selected to look after the IT and cybersecurity space.