State Bank of India March quarter profit rises 24% to Rs 20,698 crore

SBI Q4 results: State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, on Thursday reported net profit of Rs 20,698 crore in last quarter of previous financial year (Q4FY24) marking an upside of 24 per cent from Rs 16,694.51 crore in the same period last year. The up move in profit came on the back of lower provisions and strong demand for loans. Its provisions declined 51 per cent to Rs 1,610 crore as against Rs 3,315.71 crore in the year ago period.

State Bank of India's net interest income or the difference between interest earned on loans and expended on deposits rose 3.1 per cent to Rs 41,655 crore from Rs 40,392 crore in the year ago period.

The country's largest lender's asset quality showed a slight improvement during the quarter as its gross non-performing assets (NPAs), as a percentage of total advances, came in at 2.24 per cent compared with 2.42 per cent in the previous quarter and 2.78 per cent in the year ago period.

In absolute terms gross NPAs came in at Rs 84,276 crore versus Rs 86,749 crore in the previous quarter.

Its net NPA came in at 0.57 per cent as against 0.64 per cent in the previous quarter.

Operating Profit for FY24 grew by 12.05 per cent annually to Rs 93,797 crore while operating profit for Q4FY24 grew by 16.76 per cent annually to Rs 28,748 crore, the state-run bank said in an earnings release.

Credit growth came in at 15.24 per cent annually with domestic advances growing by 16.26 per cent.  Corporate advances and agri advances cross Rs 11 lakh crore and Rs 3 lakh crore mark respectively.

Retail Personal Advances and Corporate loans registered annual growth of 14.68 per cent and 16.17 per cent respectively.

Following the earnings announcement, State Bank of India shares rose as much as 3.60 per cent to hit a record high of Rs 839.60 on the BSE.