New Delhi, Aug 3 (IANS): State Bank of India (SBI) on Saturday reported a standalone net profit of Rs 17,035 crore for the April-June quarter of 2024-25 which was a mere 0.9 per cent increase over the corresponding figure of Rs 16,884.3 crore for the same quarter of the previous year.

The asset quality of the country’s largest lender showed some improvement with its gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio of the bank at 2.21 per cent of total loans as of June 30, as compared to 2.76 per cent as of June 30, 2023, according to an SBI statement.

Net NPA of the bank stood at 0.57 per cent as of June 30, as against 0.71 per cent as of June 30, 2023.

In absolute terms, gross NPAs came down to Rs 84,226.04 crore as on June 30, from Rs 91,327.84 crore as on June 30, 2023. The Net NPA fell to Rs 21,554.69 crore as of June 30, from Rs 22,995.37 crore as of June 31, 2023.

The slippage ratio of bad loans for Q1FY25 improved by 0.1 per cent at 0.84 per cent.

The deposits of the public sector bank increased 8.18 per cent to Rs 49.02 lakh crore during the first quarter from Rs 45.31 lakh crore in the same quarter of the previous year, according to the statement.

However, SBI’s domestic CASA deposits rose 2.59 per cent on-year to Rs 19.15 lakh crore in the April-June quarter, whereas, domestic term deposits jumped by 12.20 per cent on-year to Rs 27.9 lakh crore. CASA deposit is the amount of money that gets deposited in the current and savings accounts of bank customers. It is the cheapest and major source of funds for banks.

The CASA ratio of the public sector bank fell sharply by 2.18 per cent year-on-year to 40.70 per cent as of June 30, 2024, compared to 42.88 per cent as of June 30, 2023. It, therefore, has to rely more on term deposits which are a costlier way of raising funds as the bank has to pay a higher rate of interest. This in turn impacts the profitability of the bank.

In the April-June quarter, SBI’s gross advances of the bank grew 15.39 per cent on-year to Rs 38.12 lakh crore. Domestic Advances growth is driven by SME Advances (19.87 per cent on-year) followed by Agri Advances which grew by 17.06 per cent on-year, a press release said.

Domestic corporate advances grew to Rs 11.39 lakh crore in the June quarter, as compared to Rs 11.38 lakh crore in a quarter ago period, and Rs 9,82 lakh crore in a year ago period.

Domestic retail personal advances rose by 13.60 per cent on-year to Rs 13.68 lakh crore.