State Bank of India (SBI) Q1 results: Net profit jumps 10% to ₹21,121 crore, NII rises 12%; asset quality improves

State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, on Friday, August 7, reported a net profit of ₹21,121 crore in the first quarter of current financial year, marking an increase of 10% from ₹19,160 crore in the same period last year.

The bank's net interest income (NII) or the difference between interest earned on loans and expended on deposits rose 12% to ₹46,992 crore in April-June period compared with ₹41,907 crore in the year-ago period.

The bank's net interest margin (NIM) increased by nearly 15% with domestic NIM at 3% and whole bank NIM at 2.86%.

The bank's profitability got a boost from lower provisions for bad loans during the quarter. Its provisions for non-performing assets (NPA) declined by 32% to ₹3,359 crore as against ₹4,934 crore in the year-ago period.

SBI's asset quality showed an improvement as its gross NPAs, as a percentage of total advances, came in at 1.47% at the end of June quarter compared with 1.83% in the year-ago period and 1.49% in the previous quarter.

In absolute terms, gross NPAs stood at ₹74,272 crore compared with ₹78,039 crore in the corresponding period last year.

SBI's whole bank advances rose 19% annually with domestic advances rising at 18.15%.

Foreign offices advances grew by 21.38% year-on-year (YoY) in rupee terms and 9.97% in dollar terms. Retail, agriculture, and MSME (RAM) advances grew by 18.20% YoY, with double digit growth in all segments, SBI said.

Agri advances grew by 25.43% YoY followed by SME advances growth of 22.33% YoY and retail personal advances growth of 15.15%, SBI noted.

During the quarter SBI's total business crossed ₹111 lakh crore and deposits and advances crossed ₹60 lakh crore and ₹50 lakh crore respectively.

SBI said that more than 64% savings bank accounts were opened digitally through YONO application.

SBI shares came under strong buying interest after its earnings announcement. The stock rose as much as 3.64% to hit an intraday high of ₹1,124.50.