SBI Q3 profit jumps 41 pc to Rs 5,583 cr as asset quality improves

Government-owned State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday reported the highest-ever quarterly net profit of Rs 5,583 crore in the October to December quarter, up 41 per cent year-on-year due to lower provisions.

The country's biggest lender exercised the option of lower tax rate taking a one-time hit of Rs 1,333 crore.

Excluding the impact of this one-time additional hit, net profit in Q3 FY20 would have been Rs 6,916 crore as against Rs 3,955 crore in the year-ago period.

The net interest income increased by 22.4 per cent to Rs 27,779 crore with loan growth of 7.4 per cent.

Deposits growth during the quarter stood at 9.9 per cent with current account deposits growing 9.27 per cent and saving bank deposits 8.19 per cent year-on-year, the bank said in a statement.

Domestic net interest margin improved to 3.59 per cent, registering an increase of 62 basis points year-on-year and 37 basis points sequentially.

Meanwhile, asset quality improved with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a percentage of gross advances falling 25 basis points sequentially to 6.94 per cent and net NPA declining 14 basis points to 2.65 per cent in the quarter ended December 2019.

In absolute terms, gross NPA fell 1.22 per cent sequentially to Rs 1.59 lakh crore and net NPA declined 2.8 per cent to Rs 58,249 crore in Q3 FY20.

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