SBI posts YoY 62.27 pc rise in Q3 FY22 PAT at Rs 8,432

The lender had reported a PAT of Rs 5,196 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal. Its net interest income for the October- December quarter stood at Rs 30,687 crore from Rs 28,820 crore in Q3 FY 2021, registering a 6.48 percent growth.

Addressing the media in a virtual conference, SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara said the bank has delivered consistently improving outcomes in the business, profitability, and asset quality parameters during the quarter.

Speaking about the increase in PAT during the quarter he said, "We have a decent interest income. Treasury income has a bit of an issue but nevertheless, in other income, we have seen a good trend and also lower provisions because of the better asset quality."

During the quarter, the bank's Gross NPA ratio stood at 4.50 percent, down by 94 bps, while the Net NPA ratio at 1.34 percent, down by 47 bps, as compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.

Its Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) as at the end of Q3FY22 stands at 88.32 percent while the slippage ratio for the quarter stands at 0.37 percent.

Khara further said that the bank has also created sufficient consistency provisions against the restructured book to insulate its balance sheet from any future shocks arising out of the uncertainties in this book.

It made additional provisions of Rs 1,700 crore during the quarter as a prudent measure.

"While the elevated level of slippage in the first quarter of the year was due to exceptional circumstances, we have been able to pull back a significant portion of those slippages which indicate our long term strategy of maintaining asset quality through quality credit underwriting using analytics for early warning signals and focus on collections have now started delivering consistent results," Khara added.

He further said that the bank has implemented a recast of loans with an aggregate outstanding of Rs 19,900 crore under resolution plan 2, with loans of Rs 2,583 crore being recast during Q3.

"Our total restructured book under covid resolution plan 1 and 2 stands at Rs 32,895 crore which is only 1.2 percent of our loan book. We have also made additional provisions against restructured accounts over and above the regulatory requirements," he added.

The lender's whole bank advances grew by 8.47 percent YoY, with domestic advances reporting growth of 6.47, driven by growth in personal retail advances. Its foreign office advances grew by 21.35 percent during the quarter as compared to last fiscal.

"Home loan, which constitutes 24 per of Bank's domestic advances, has grown by 11.15 percent year-on-year, while the growth in corporate and SME segment has also picked up during the quarter," Khara said.

He further said that there has been an improvement in terms of the utilisation of limits as far as the corporate side is concerned.

"As compared to September 2021, the unutilised portion has come down from 52 percent of the working capital to about 43 percent now. Even in term loans, the undisbursed portion has come down on a y-o-y basis, from about 23 percent in December 2020 to about 22 percent now. This is a clear sign of the better utilisation of sanctioned limits," Khara said.

He noted that the bank has an unutilised portion of about Rs 2.06 trillion for working capital and Rs 1.99 trillion in term loans.

"The trend we have seen in the month of January is that we have seen a growth of Rs 50,000 crore in advances. I am quite confident that going forward we will have decent growth in corporate credit and I do not envisage any challenge on this," he added.