MUMBAI: The finance ministry has said the banks run by it have reported strong set of numbers with net income surging by 25.6% to Rs 85,520 crore in the first half of the fiscal along with rapid improvements in asset quality. Almost 45% of this is contributed by SBI alone with Rs 35,366 crore in net income in the reporting period.
While operating profit jumped to Rs 1,50,023 crore, 14.4% more growth 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% more than what they have logged in the corresponding period last fiscal, the finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The statement added that the aggregate business of the 12 state-run banks stood at Rs 236.04 lakh crore, which grew by 11%. Of this global credit and deposit portfolio grew 12.9% and 9.5 % on-year to Rs 102.29 lakh crore and Rs 133.75 lakh crore respectively.
The statement added that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier in the day met with the heads of the state-run banks to take stock of the challenges banks 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 R85,000 crore have been logged in by the State Bank only. The industry leader has logged a cool 28% 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%more than what it had earned from the previous year.