Improved cost ratios to boost State Bank of India's profitability

The bank has also made efforts to significantly strengthen its balance sheet and has a healthy provisioning coverage on its corporate book at 92 per cent

India’s largest PSU bank, State Bank of India, delivered excellent results, once the impact of a big jump in employee expenses was adjusted for. The net interest income (NII) beat the Street due to a better net interest margin (NIM) and good loan growth.

The credit growth at 5.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) (15 per cent year on year) was excellent for a large bank. The NII was reported at Rs 39,800 crore (up 4.6 per cent Y-o-Y) due to better NIM at 3.07 per cent (3.04 per cent in Q2FY24) and stronger loan growth. Deposit growth was 13 per