State Bank of India Q1 profit nearly triples to all-time high

MUMBAI/BENGALURU, Aug 6 (Reuters): State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, on Friday reported a near three-fold jump in first-quarter profit, led by a surge in net interest income, healthy loan growth and lower provisions.
Net profit was at a record 168.84 billion rupees ($2.04 billion) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with 60.68 billion rupees a year earlier.
Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and paid out, rose 24.7 per cent to 389.05 billion rupees, while net interest margin, a key indicator of a bank's profitability, rose to 3.47 per cent from 3.23 per cent a year ago.
However, slippages more than doubled to 76.59 billion rupees sequentially, primarily from small and medium enterprises and agriculture lending.
Rivals HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have reported double-digit net interest income growth for the fiscal first quarter.
Indian banks have been reporting double-digit credit growth in recent months, driven by rising consumption, even as the Reserve Bank of India raised interest rates.
SBI's corporate lending book pipeline stands at 3.5 trillion rupees, Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said in a news conference. Khara expects credit growth of 15 per cent this fiscal year.
The bank's gross loans increased 13.9 per cent from a year earlier, while deposits climbed 12 per cent, led by term deposits that offer better returns.