SBI Cards net profit rises 84% to Rs 386 crore in December quarter

Its interest income rose by 9 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,273 crore

A robust increase in fee income and lower provisions helped SBI Cards and Payments Services report an 84 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 386 crore in the October–December quarter (Q3FY22). Its net profit was Rs 210 crore in the year-ago period.

Its interest income rose by 9 per cent year–on–year (YoY) to Rs 1,273 crore and fee income was up 31 per cent YoY to Rs 1,616 crore, resulting in revenue rising 24 per cent YoY to Rs 3,140 crore.

Provisions for bad loans fell 43 per cent YoY to Rs 1,161 crore in the reporting quarter, which includes management overlay provision of Rs 162 crore for the third Covid wave. Its asset quality improved substantially, with gross non-performing assets falling by 96 basis points (bps) sequentially to 2.40 per cent at the end of December quarter. Similarly, net NPAs fell by 8 bps to 0.83 per cent in the same period.

It has restructured loans worth Rs 359.69 crore under the Reserve Bank of India’s second Covid restructuring framework.

During the quarter, the second largest credit card issuer in the country added more than 1 million accounts, up 10 per cent compared to 918,000 added in Q3FY21. In Q2FY22, it had added 953,000 new accounts. Also, outstanding card-in-force grew by 15 per cent to 13.2 million at the end of Q3FY22 compared to 11.5 million in Q3 FY21.

Further, total spends grew by 47 per cent YoY to Rs 55,397 crore in Q3FY22, compared to Rs 37,797 crore in Q3FY21. Retail spends were up 36. 48 YoY per cent to Rs 42,417 crore while corporate spends were up 93 per cent to Rs 12,900 crore in the same period. Its market share in spends and outstanding cards as of November, 2021, stood at 19 per cent and 19.2 per cent, respectively.

Receivables grew by 13 per cent to Rs 29,129 crore as of Q3FY22 compared to Rs 25,749 crore in Q3FY21.