Net Profit Jumps 14% to ₹23,038 Crore as Loan Book Crosses ₹52 Lakh Crore

Banking bellwether State Bank of India (SBI) delivered another robust financial performance for the July-September quarter, posting a 14 percent year-on-year surge in standalone net profit to ₹23,038 crore, compared to ₹20,160 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. The public-sector lender's Net Interest Income (NII)—the core difference between interest earned on loans and interest expended on deposits—surged 14.3 percent to ₹49,143 crore from ₹42,984 crore a year earlier.Operating profit witnessed a healthy 7 percent expansion to settle at ₹34,226 crore versus ₹31,904 crore, powered by steady balance sheet expansion and aggressive cost-containment measures that outpaced credit overheads.Broad-Based Credit Expansion: Gross Advances Cross ₹52 Lakh Crore Amid Surging Corporate and Retail AppetiteDriving the bottom-line acceleration was a fast-expanding lending book that crossed the historic milestone of ₹52 lakh crore, with gross advances swelling 18 percent year-on-year to ₹52.08 lakh crore compared to ₹44.20 lakh crore in the prior-year period.Domestic advances logged a sharp 17 percent uptick while foreign credit offices recorded 23 percent growth in rupee terms, demonstrating double-digit velocity across every operational credit segment. Agriculture disbursements registered an impressive 23 percent jump, small and medium enterprise (SME) funding advanced 22 percent, and the corporate loan book grew 16.1 percent to touch ₹14.39 lakh crore to indicate resilient private capital expenditure.Within the retail personal finance segment, which rose 14 percent to ₹18.25 lakh crore, home loans continued their commanding trajectory by increasing 11.9 percent to ₹9.86 lakh crore from ₹8.80 lakh crore, pushing the state-run lender's cumulative business footprint—encompassing gross advances and deposits combined—to a staggering ₹115 lakh crore mark.Margin Expansion and Stronger Asset Quality: Gross NPAs Drop to 1.39% as Provisions Shrink 33%Complementing robust credit disbursements, the bank's total deposit mobilization grew 12 percent year-on-year to ₹62.78 lakh crore, supported by an 8 percent increase in low-cost Current Account Savings Account (CASA) deposits and a 14 percent rise in domestic term deposits.While the CASA ratio moderated slightly to 38.32 percent from 39.63 percent due to retail savers locking into fixed deposits, the bank expanded its core margins, lifting domestic Net Interest Margin (NIM) by 11 basis points sequentially to 3.11 percent, with global NIM improving to 2.94 percent. Simultaneously, balance-sheet resilience improved as loan-loss provisions plummeted 33 percent year-on-year to ₹2,759 crore from ₹4,132 crore, reflecting significant bad loan recoveries and disciplined risk underwriting.The improvement drove the Gross Non-Performing Asset (GNPA) ratio down to a multi-year low of 1.39 percent from 1.73 percent twelve months ago, while the Net NPA ratio compressed further to 0.36 percent, underscoring pristine asset quality across sovereign retail and wholesale portfolios.