State Bank of India (SBI), on Friday, reported a 30.24 per cent increase in its net profit to Rs.2,910 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014, up from Rs.2,234 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal.
While net interest income increased by 9.20 per cent to Rs.13,777 crore from Rs.12,616 crore, non-interest income improved by 24.27 per cent to Rs.5,238 crore from Rs.4,215 crore.
“Our net interest income is strong and our other income is also strong,” bank Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said, while addressing a press conference here.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal, the net profit went up by 19.22 per cent to Rs.9,360 crore from Rs.7,850 crore in the same period of previous year.
Operating income increased by 12.97 per cent to Rs.19,014 crore in the third quarter (Rs.16,831 crore).Deposits rose by 11.86 per cent to Rs.15.10 lakh crore in December, 2014, from Rs.13.50 lakh crore in December, 2013. Savings bank deposits increased by 9.33 per cent to Rs.5.09 lakh crore in December, 2014, from Rs.4.66 lakh crore in December, 2013. Gross advances increased by 6.91 per cent to Rs.12.65 lakh crore in December, 2014, from Rs.11.84 lakh crore in December, 2013.
On the deposits side, said Ms. Arundhati, “The main problem is that there are many more people piling into the term deposits than on the CASA (current account and savings account) side. And that is obvious because they would like to lock into the rates as they believe that the rates will come down, which is also a fact.”
While talking on advances, she said, “Our growth remains muted as you have seen that our domestic advances growth is only around 7.7 per cent. On year-to-date basis, our growth is almost flat. Therefore, going forward, we don’t believe that we will have more than, say, around 10 per cent advances growth by year-end. Momentum will come up only after two quarters.”
Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio is down by 83 basis points to 4.90 per cent in the third quarter of the current fiscal against 5.73 per cent in the corresponding period of previous year.
“I am very loath to say that the pain (NPA) is over. Let us wait it out a quarter or two, before we can say that it is surely over,” said Ms. Arundhati, adding, “slippages have come from iron and steel, trade and services, textiles, some amount of power and the like.”
