SBI posts 70% profit growth at Rs 1,808 cr

State Bank of India today announced a 69.81 per cent rise in third quarter profit at Rs 1,808.64 crore, as against Rs 1,065.06 crore in corresponding period of the previous year.

The interest on loans, trading profits and commissions helped the bank post a better performance.

Total income for the Oct-Dec 2007 quarter rose to Rs 15,364 crore from Rs 11,546.97 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. The net interest income rose marginally by 7.73 per cent to Rs 4,256.36 crore.

Other income rose by 48.93 per cent to Rs 2,697.19 crore from Rs 1,811.03 crore in the previous corresponding period.

"The interest on advances, sale of securities, brokerages and commissions contributed significantly to profits. The bank has made the treasury operations more active," SBI Chairman O P Bhatt said.

The bank's deposits grew by 26.16 per cent to Rs. 5,10,132 crore at the end of December 2007 from Rs 4,04,352 crore a year ago. The cost of deposits has increased to 5.55 per cent from 4.71 per cent, mainly due to higher term deposits mobilisation and higher interest rates.

The gross advances grew by more than 25 per cent to Rs 3,95,343 crore at the end-December 2007 from Rs 3,14,850 crore end-December 2006. The yield on advances increased to 9.93 per cent from 8.61 per cent.

Though there has been a slowdown in advances to industry this fiscal our performance is better than other banks, Bhatt said.

The advances in the personal segment grew 18.06 per cent. Outstanding personal segment advances aggregated Rs 82,132 crore at the end of December 2007.

The housing advances also grew 16.02 per cent by December 2007. The total outstanding of home loans was Rs 42,522 crore.

Retail advances constituted 24.04 per cent of the gross domestic advances. Housing loans constituted 51.77 per cent of retail advances.

Gross non-performing asset ratio declined from 3.15 per cent to 2.69 per cent. The net NPA ratio was down to 1.44 per cent at the end of December 2007.