SBI: After a good Q1 show, all eyes will be on pick up in growth

Lower costs indicate mergers with associate banks is paying off in terms of better synergies, but credit offtake remains muted

Public lender State Bank of India (SBI) reported its highest ever quarterly PAT of Rs 6,504 crore for Q1FY22, which was 55 per cent higher year-on-year than the PAT of Rs 4,189.34 crore for Q1FY21. This was also a sequential improvement over PAT of Rs 6,451 crore in Q4FY21, and came in ahead of Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 5,855 crore. The net interest income (NII) rose 3.74 per cent YoY to Rs 27,638 crore versus Rs 26,641 crore and it was up 2 per cent QoQ over Rs 27,067 crore. The domestic Net Interest Margin or spread was marginally