Improvement in asset quality and high interest income pushed State Bank of India's net profit in December quarter by 30 per cent to Rs 2,910 crore, boosting the shares of country's largest lender by 6.8 per cent.
The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 2,234 crore in the October-December quarter of previous fiscal, SBI said in a statement.
The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a percentage of total advances came down to 4.90 per cent at the end of third quarter from 5.73 per cent in the year-ago period while net NPAs stood at 2.80 per cent.
During the quarter, the net interest income increased by 9.20 per cent to Rs 13,777 crore as against Rs 12,616 crore in the October-December period of last fiscal.
However, the bank has increased its provisioning for bad loans to Rs 5,235 crore as against Rs 4,149 crore a year earlier, an increase of 26 per cent.
Non-interest income too rose to Rs 5,238 crore at the end of December, up 24.27 per cent over the year-ago period.
Total income increased to Rs 43,784 crore during the three month period, up from Rs 39,068 crore in the corresponding period of 2013-14 fiscal.
On a consolidated basis, the bank's net profit increased 35 per cent to Rs 3,828 crore for the quarter ended December, against Rs 2,839 crore in the year-ago period.
Total income increased to Rs 64,605 crore as against Rs 58,649 crore in the third quarter of 2013-14.
Shares of the lender rose 6.82 per cent to Rs 303.80 during afternoon trade on the BSE.
SBI has five associate banks - State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad.
Among these, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore are listed entities.
