SBI Q4 Results: Standalone net profit grows 24% on-year; asset quality improves

The country’s leading state-run lender State Bank of India (SBI) released its March quarter results today beating analysts' estimates by a wide margin. For the January-March period, the bank posted standalone net profit of Rs 20,698.35 crore as against Zee Business research estimates of Rs 14,590 crore. In the corresponding period a year-ago, the bank reported net profit of Rs 16,694.51 crore.

Net Interest Income (NII) at the lender grew by 3.13 per cent on year to Rs 41,655 in the March-ended quarter as against Rs 40,393 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. On a sequential basis (QoQ), the NII registered a growth of 4.62 per cent. Net Interest Income (NII) for FY24 increased by 10.38% on-year, highlighted the lender's press release. The research desk anticipated the metric to log a marginal growth of 1.25 per cent on-year to Rs 40,900 crore.

Operating profit at the lender logged 16.76 per cent on year growth to Rs 28,748 crore. Furthermore, return on assets (RoA) for Q4 came in at 1.36 per cent, logging an improvement of 13 bps year-on-year (YoY). For the full financial year 2024, the bank's RoA and RoE is reported at 1.04 per cent and 20.32 per cent, respectivly.

Net interest margin at the lender, a measure of profitability, registered a YoY degrowth by 37 basis points and came in at 3.47 per cent in the reporting quarter when compared to 3.84 per cent reported in the same period last year.

Credit growth at SBI was at 15.24 per cent on year, while domestic advances during the period under review logged 16.26 per cent on-year growth.

Asset quality

The lender's asset quality during the January-March period improved with gross NPA ratio reported at 2.24 per cent in comparison to 2.78 per cent last year. Also, net NPA stood at 0.57 per cent as against 0.67 per cent last year.

On the sidelines, the bank announced a dividend of Rs 13.7 per share for the fiscal year 2023-2024.

After the lender's results, the stock of SBI traded with gains of over 2 per cent at Rs 827.55, while at day's high it notched levels of Rs 839.6 apiece on the BSE.

(This story will be updated shortly)