MUMBAI: The finance ministry has said the banks run by it have reported a strong set of numbers with net income surging by 25.6 percent to Rs 85,520 crore in the first half of the fiscal along with rapid improvements in asset quality. Almost 45 percent of this is contributed by SBI alone with Rs 35,366 crore in net income in the reporting period.
Operating profit jumped to Rs 1,50,023 crore, 14.4 percent more than in the same period in the previous fiscal, from which they earned Rs 85,520 crore in net income, which is as much as 25.6 percent more than what they logged in the corresponding period last fiscal, the finance ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
The statement said this was driven by a strong improvement in the asset quality, with the gross NPA ratio coming down by 108 bps to 3.12 as of the September quarter and the net NAP ratio printing in at 0.63, down 34 bps.
The aggregate business of the 12 state-run banks stood at Rs 236.04 trillion, which grew by 11 percent. Of this, global credit and deposit portfolio grew 12.9 percent and 9.5 percent on-year to Rs 102.29 trillion and Rs 133.75 trillion respectively.
The statement further said that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier in the day met with the heads of state-run banks to take stock of the challenges they are facing.
The statement also noted that public sector lenders have shown significant progress in adopting new age technologies like AI/ cloud/blockchain apart from upgrading existing digital infra, putting in place necessary systems/controls to tackle cyber security risks and taking multiple steps to provide best-in-class customer services.
It can be noted that like last fiscal, most of this fiscal’s first half earnings of Rs 85,000 crore were by SBI. The industry leader has logged a cool 28 percent growth in net income in the second quarter at Rs 18,331 crore, and Rs 17,035 crore in the first quarter. Last fiscal, the bank had earned Rs 61,077 crore, which was 21.6 percent more than what it had earned from the previous year. Significantly, this is more than what the bank had earned in all the previous years cumulatively.