Calcutta, July 28: The State Bank of India has registered a 15.54 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit at Rs 1,222.83 crore against Rs 1,058.40 crore in the corresponding previous period. Total income rose 16.7 per cent to Rs 10,742.85 crore from Rs 9,205.29 crore.

Operating profit increased 66.05 per cent to Rs 3,439.48 crore from Rs 2071.40 crore. The 43.98 per cent increase in net interest income, coupled with a marginal decline in operating expenses, led to a higher operating profit.

Net interest income rose to Rs 4,253.24 crore from Rs 2,954.07 crore in the year-ago period based on a higher interest income on advances and lower interest expenditure on deposits.

SBI’s net interest margin at the end of the quarter was 3.77 per cent compared with 2.99 per cent in the year-ago period. Other income increased 2.46 per cent, while other income, excluding profit on sale of investment and dividend, increased 7.93 per cent.

The provisions made by the bank for the quarter more than doubled to Rs 2,216.65 crore from Rs 1,013 crore in the first quarter of 2004-05.

The country’s largest public sector bank made a provision of Rs 1,308.33 crore for depreciation in investment against Rs 4.99 crore during the same period last fiscal. The provision for non-performing assets (NPA) stood at Rs 236 crore against Rs 210 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Provision for taxes was Rs 450.07 crore (including deferred tax credit of Rs 129.02 crore and fringe benefit tax of Rs 85 crore) compared with Rs 684.34 crore during the same period last fiscal.

Net NPA dropped to 2.44 per cent from 3.45 per cent. The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) came down to 11.63 per cent as on June 30 from 13.82 per cent last year.

Deposits as on June 30 increased 13.76 per cent, while advances were higher by 32.54 per cent. During the quarter, retail advances grew by Rs 2,771 crore against Rs 1,382 crore during the same period last year. The outstanding personal segment advances stood at Rs 49,223 crore as on June 30.

Housing advances grew by Rs 1,861 crore and the total outstanding at the end of June was Rs 26,849 crore. During the first three months of 2005-06, the growth in retail advances was 5.97 per cent over March 2005. Retail advances constitute 25.15 per cent of the bank’s domestic gross advances and housing loans constitute 54.55 per cent of the retail advances at the end of June.