Loan growth boosts SBI profit in Q4

mumbai — State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender by assets, more than doubled fourth-quarter profit as loan growth accelerated and bad-debt provisions fell. The stock climbed to a two-year high.

Net income climbed to ₹28.1 billion ($430 million) in the three months ended March 31 from ₹12.6 billion a year earlier, the Mumbai-based lender reported on Friday. Outstanding loans grew 7.8 per cent, faster than the previous quarter’s 4.8 per cent increase, exchange filings show.

“Asset quality and loan growth positively surprised,” said Siddharth Purohit, a Mumbai-based analyst at Angel Broking.

“The earnings trajectory seems to be turning after a very rough patch.”

Provisions for bad debt dropped to ₹110 billion in the period from ₹121 billion a year earlier. Gross bad loans as a percentage of total lending narrowed to 6.9 per cent from 7.23 per cent in the December quarter. SBI’s shares rose two per cent to ₹309, the highest intraday level since March 2015, as of 2:43pm in Mumbai trading. The lender has climbed 24 per cent this year. — Bloomberg