India’s largest bank SBI records a robust $1b quarterly profit

Mumbai: State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender by assets, reported a record quarterly profit on Wednesday as provisions for bad loans more than halved.

Most large Indian banks have reported higher profits for the September quarter, buoyed by a rebound in credit demand as the economy reopened fully and low-interest rates boosted spending on automobiles and homes.

SBI’s net profit rose 66.7 per cent to Rs76.27 billion for the three months ended September 30, from Rs45.74 billion a year earlier, beating analysts’ expectations for a profit of Rs71.82 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Provisions for bad loans slid 52 per cent to Rs26.99 billion, while the bank’s gross bad loan ratio, a measure of asset quality, slipped to 4.90 per cent from 5.32 per cent a quarter earlier.

SBI shares, which have outperformed the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index so far this year with a near 90 per cent jump, were up 1 per cent after the results.