SBI Q2 net soars 21%

 Net profit for the half year ended September 30 rose 19.53 per cent to Rs 1,889 crore from Rs 1,580.40 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

 Total income went up 14.57 per cent for the second quarter to Rs 10,269.01 crore (Rs 8,962.91 crore). Interest income fell marginally to Rs 7613.94 crore (Rs 7825 crore), while other income zoomed 133.32 per cent to Rs 2655.07 crore (Rs 1137.91 crore).

 Total deposits, excluding Resurgent Indian Bonds(RIBs), IMDs, and interbank, grew by 12.46 per cent to Rs 2,56,221 crore (Rs 227825 crore) as on September 26 2003.

 According to chairman A K Purwar, the bank has garnered Rs 2,300 crore deposits of the RIB redemption. The RIB redemption will also help SBI improve its net interest margin from 2.79 per cent, at present, to above 2.9 per cent in the future.