Despite huge provisioning of Rs 1,656.61 crore, the country’s largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI), has registered a jump of 15.08% in its net profit, to Rs 1,640.79 crore in Q1 2009. This is an increase from Rs 1,425.81 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The bank?s treasury loss on its bond portfolio was at Rs 816.86 crore during the reporting period. Even though the bank had gone for a rights issue earlier this year, its capital adequacy ratio slid marginally to 12.99% from 13.13% a year ago due to substantial business growth.
The net interest margin of the bank declined marginally to 3.03% from 3.07% a year ago. The current spread of the bank stands at 4.09%.
However, the operating profit of the bank zoomed 67.79 % to Rs 3,962.34 crore from Rs 2,361.46 crore a year ago. While the bank?s credit grew at 30%, there was an increase of 24.95% in deposits during the period.
The growth in sectors like home, SME and corporate loans were recorded at 17.40%, 23.16% and 30.79%, respectively. However, the retail loan incremental portfolio decelerated during the period to Rs 2,627.93 crore from Rs 2,885.37 crore a year ago.
The bank has seen deceleration in the growth of interest expenses to 30.37% from 43.92 % a year back. Other income has recorded a quantum jump of 111.13% over last year. While total income recorded a growth of 35.50%, non-interest expenses recorded a marginal rise of 9.42% indicating continued control over cost.
The net NPA during the quarter was at 1.42%, down from 1.78% a year ago.
Ashok Mukand, chief financial officer,
SBI said there has been a recovery of Rs 2,000 crore during the period, which includes the write back of agricultural loans worth Rs 1,100 crore.
Also, the quarter witnessed a reduction of Rs 2,191 crore in gross NPA, resulting in a write back of Rs 247.40 crore in loan loss provisions of the bank.