SBI Q2 Net Profit Up 52% Due To Fall In Bad Loan Provisions

The results were ahead of analysts' expectations and the bank's asset quality also saw a modest improvement during the quarter.

Representational Picture (SBI/Facebook)

New Delhi: India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI), reported a 52% jump in its second-quarter net profit to Rs 4,574.16 crore due to a 22% fall in total provisions for bad loans.  The rise in profits was reported on 3.42% growth in its total income to Rs 75,341.80 crore during the quarter. SBI's net interest income (NII) for the quarter rose 14.56% to Rs 28,181 crore. In comparison, net interest margins (NIMs) came in at 3.34%, against 3.22% in the year-ago period. The results were ahead of analysts' expectations and the bank's asset quality also saw a modest improvement during the quarter. Banks Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) fell to 5.28% from 5.44% in the June quarter. Net NPAs declined to 1.59% from 1.86% in the June quarter. SBI said its gross NPA would have been at 5.88% and net NPA at 2.08% if the bank had classified the loan accounts as NPA after August 31, 2020, following Reserve Bank of India's norms. The Supreme Court, in its interim order, had directed that the accounts which were not declared NPA till August 31, 2020, shall not be reported NPA till further orders. SBI's capital adequacy ratio stood at 14.72% at the end of September, compared with 13.40% at the end of June and 13.59% in the year-ago period. The bank said it had made a provision of Rs 2,124 crore towards employee wage revision during the quarter and an additional provision of Rs 239 crore on Covid-related accounts. The loan book grew 6.02% over the previous year to Rs 23.83 lakh crore, mainly driven by retail advances (14.55%), agricultural advances (4.19%), and corporate advances (2.82%). According to SBI's management, the retail segment will be its primary lever for growth in the future. Within retail loans, SBI sees good traction in home loans, which constitutes 23% of its domestic loan book. The average loan ticket-size in the home loan segment is around Rs 25-28 lakh. Further, the bank is also seeing profitable growth in the personal loans segment. The bank expects its domestic loan book's growth to improve to 8-9% in the next few quarters. Credit growth in Retail is coming back to pre Covid-19 levels as sanctions and disbursements during Q2FY21 are significantly higher across most retail products, said SBI. SBI shares on BSE closed up 1.12% at Rs 207.05 in a firm Mumbai market on Wednesday, valuing it at Rs 184784 crore.