SBI share price hits highest level in 2025, nears record high; upside left?

State Bank of India shares rose 1 per cent to ₹863.50 on the BSE today, hitting their highest level in calendar year 2025.

State Bank of India (SBI) share price today

 

State Bank of India (SBI) shares hit their highest level in calendar year 2025 (CY25) on the BSE on Friday after the stock price of the state-owned lender rose 1 per cent to ₹863.50 in the intraday trade, in an otherwise weak market.

 

With this, SBI stock is trading close to its all-time high level of ₹912.10 which it had touched on June 6, 2024. In comparison, the BSE Sensex was down 0.51 per cent at 82,589 at 10:47 AM.

 

In the past four trading days, the stock price of the public sector undertaking (PSU) bank has rallied 5 per cent as the bank completed the sale of its 13.18 per cent stake (4.13 billion shares) in YES Bank to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) for ₹8,889 crore at ₹21.50 per share.  CATCH STOCK MARKET UPDATES LIVE

What's driving SBI stock price higher?

 

The Executive Committee of the Central Board (ECCB) of SBI, in the meeting held on May 9, 2025, had accorded approval to divest 4134.4 million equity shares of YES Bank to SMBC, at ₹21.50 per equity share.

 

On Wednesday, September 17, SBI said the sale was executed after SMBC secured the necessary approvals from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August 22, 2025, and from the Competition Commission of India on September 2, 2025. This reduces SBI's holding in YES Bank to about 10.8 per cent.

 

"The deal will increase SBI's book value by around 2-3 per cent, which seems factored into SBI's valuation. Going forward, SBI's steady performance is expected to keep pushing its valuation upwards," ICICI Securities said.

State Bank of India Credit outlook

 

In a separate development, the government is reportedly in discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease lending norms and allow banks to take higher exposures to large corporates to boost infrastructure financing.

 

With banks' gross non-performing assets (NPAs) and net NPAs at multi-decadal lows of 2.3 per cent and 0.5 per cent in FY25, policymakers believe the system is better placed to support big-ticket infrastructure projects.

 

"The consideration to relax the ₹10,000-crore single-borrower limit is seen as a win-win for both - infrastructure to companies and banks as it will boost credit off-take. However, a careful calibration will be key to managing asset quality risks," ICICI Securities pointed out.

 

On its part, SBI's management believes that the healthy pipeline on project financing, coupled with expected acceleration in mortgages in the second half of the current financial year (H2FY26), should support overall credit growth at ~12 per cent (with an upward bias) in FY26. 

"Margins could correct a bit in Q2 albeit improve in H2, benefiting from the CRR/deposit rate cut and the recent capital raising with exit NIM at 3 per cent," according to analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services.

 

The brokerage firm has a 'Buy' rating on the stock with an unchanged target price of ₹975 per share.

 

Axis Securities, too, has a 'Buy' rating on SBI share with an SOTP-based target price of ₹1,025 per share.

 

"SBI remains well-poised to sustain its growth momentum, supported by its comfortable loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR), providing it with leverage to accelerate credit growth. While near-term pressures are expected to be visible on NIMs, benefit from deposit rate cuts, which will reflect in cost of funds from H2 onwards, should support NIM recovery," it said.

 

The brokerage further added: The bank is making concentrated efforts to contain Opex growth by focusing on improving productivity and maintaining the cost-to-income ratio (C-I Ratio) at <50 per cent across cycles.

 

"Asset quality does not pose challenges, and thus, credit costs should remain benign. Collectively, this should ensure a comfortable 1 per cent RoA delivery over FY26-28E. The recent QIP has strengthened the Tier I capital, adequate to fuel medium-term growth," Axis Securities had said in its Q1FY26 result update.