SBI Q1 result: Profit at Rs 2,312 crore in June qtr; gross NPA down 21% YoY

State Bank of India (SBI), on Friday, was back in the black and reported a net profit of Rs 2,312 crore for the June quarter of 2019-20 (Q1FY20) on the back of healthy growth in advances and stable asset quality.  The bank had reported a net loss of Rs 4,875.9 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal (Q1FY19) and a PAT of Rs 838.4 in the March 2019 quarter (Q4FY19). 

The profit beat analysts’ expectations who had pegged the profit at Rs 2,066.7 crore.

The bank’s asset quality improved with gross non-performing assets (GNPA) at Rs 1.68 lakh crore, down 21 per cent, from Rs 2.13 lakh crore reported in Q1FY19. It was down 2.8 per cent sequentially from Rs 1.73 lakh crore in Q4FY19. 

The net NPA (NNPA) remained flat on a quarterly basis. It came in at Rs 65,624 crore, down 0.41 per cent QoQ from Rs 65,894.74 crore. The NNPA, however, fell 34 per cent YoY from Rs 99,236 crore clocked in Q1FY19.

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Asset quality, an issue that has pestered Indian lenders for years as bad loans surged, was stable at SBI during the recently concluded quarter, with gross non-performing assets as a percentage of total loans standing at 7.53 per cent at June-end, flat over the previous quarter and lower than 10.69 per cent in the same period last year. Interest earned rose 6.5 per cent, while provisions for bad loans dived 10.7 per cent in the quarter.

Provisions came in at Rs 9,183 crore. Analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services had expected the gross and net non-performing assets (NPAs) to decline YoY by up to 23 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. READ ABOUT IT HERE

“The bank has made provisions of Rs 996 crore for the quarter ended June, 2019 towards arrears of wages due for revision w.e.f November 1, 2017” the management said in a statement. Total cumulative provisions till June 30, 2019 were Rs 6,639.41 crore.

The public lender’s provision coverage ratio was 79.34 per cent for the recently concluded quarter.

The bank reported fresh gross slippages at Rs 16,212 crore, as against analysts’ expectations of Rs 7,000 crore. There were up 13 per cent YoY, from Rs 14,349 crore in Q1FY19 and 107 per cent from Rs 7,961 crore reported in Q4FY19.

Net interest income (NII) stood at Rs 22,938.79 crore, up 5.23 per cent, from Rs 21,798.4 earned in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. It was Rs 22,953.8 crore reported in Q4FY19. 

The results also come at a time when other major lenders, including HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, have warned of the negative impact of India's ongoing economic slowdown on their performance.

(With Reuters inputs)