SBI reports first quarter profit of Rs 2,312 crore with improved asset quality

State Bank of India (SBI) was back in the black on Friday as it reported a net profit of Rs 2,312 crore for the April to June quarter of 2019-20 (Q1 FY20) due to healthy growth in advances and stable asset quality.

The country's largest commercial bank had registered a net loss of Rs 4,876 crore during Q1 FY19. This is also 176 per cent higher than the net profit of Rs 838 crore during Q4 FY19.

The bank's asset quality improved with gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) at Rs 1.68 lakh crore, down 21 per cent from Rs 2.13 lakh crore reported in Q1 FY19. It was down 2.8 per cent sequentially from Rs 1.73 lakh crore in Q4 FY19.

Net NPAs came in at Rs 65,624 crore. The GNPA ratio was 7.53 per cent while NNPA ratio was 3.07 per cent. The provisions came in at Rs 9,183 crore.

SBI clocked robust domestic credit growth at 11.89 per cent year-on-year. Its net interest income grew by 5.23 per cent year-on-year Q1 FY20. Excluding the one-off item in Q1 FY19, net interest income grew healthy at 15.45 per cent year-on-year.

Credit cost was down 52 basis points at 2.03 per cent in Q1 FY20 while capital adequacy ratio improved from 12.83 per cent in June 2018 to 12.89 per cent in June 2019.

The cost to income ratio excluding pension provisions improved from 52.46 per cent in Q1 FY19 to 47.26 per cent in Q1 FY20, SBI said in a statement.

.