Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am Pavan Kumar, General Manager, Performance Planning and Review Department of the Bank. On behalf of the State Bank of India, I am delighted to welcome the analysts, investors, colleagues, and everyone present here today on the occasion of the declaration of the Third Quarter Financial Year 2026 results of the bank. I also extend a very warm welcome to all the people who are assessing the event through our live webcast. We have with us on the stage our chairman, Sir, Shri C.S. Setty. Our Managing Director, Corporate Banking and Subsidiaries, Shri Ashwini Kumar Tewari. Our Managing Director, International Banking, Global Markets and Technology, Shri Rana Ashutosh Kumar Singh. Our Managing Director, Retail Business and Operations, Shri Rama Mohan Rao Amara. Our Managing Director, Risk Compliance and SARG, Shri Ravi Ranjan. Our Deputy Managing Director, Finance, Shri Anindya Sundar Paul.
Our Deputy Managing Directors heading various verticals and Managing Directors of our subsidiaries are seated in the front rows of this hall. We are also joined by Chief General Managers of different verticals, business groups, Chief General Managers and other senior officials of the circles and various officers are connected through our live webcast. To carry forward the proceedings, I request our chairman, sir, to give a summary of the Bank's Quarter Three Financial Year 26 performance and the strategic initiatives undertaken. We shall thereafter straightaway go to question and answer session. However, before I request Chairman, Sir, I would like to read out the safe harbor statement. Certain statements in today's presentation may be forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances.
Actual outcomes may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors. Thank you. Now, I would request Chairman, Sir, for his opening remarks. Chairman, Sir, please.
Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us for today's analyst meet, following the announcement of the Bank's Q3 FY 2026 results. At SBI, we have remained consistently focused on strengthening the fundamentals that create sustainable value for all stakeholders. Our performance in the third quarter of FY 2026 reflects continuity, consistency and the enduring strength of our franchise. I will begin with a brief overview of the global and domestic economic environment, followed by an update on the Bank's performance. Despite heightened geopolitical tensions and elevated global uncertainty, the Indian economy remains well-positioned, supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals and a benign inflation environment. Global growth is projected at around 3.3% in 2025-2026, while India continues to outperform, with real GDP growth expected at about 7.4% in FY 2026.
India's potential growth remains close to 7%, with FY 2027 growth projected in the range of 6.8%-7.2%. Growth is expected to remain resilient in FY 2027. The Union Budget reinforces the government's commitment to inclusive and accelerated growth under the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, with a proposed capital expenditure of INR 12.2 trillion, providing strong support to infrastructure and investment. On the external front, services exports are expected to remain resilient, while the merchandise exports should benefit from the recently concluded and prospective trade agreements, although geopolitical risk and global market volatility remain key downside risks. The Indian financial system continues to remain strong and resilient, with robust capital, liquidity, asset quality and profitability across banks and NBFCs.
Alongside the numbers, we are strengthening the structural drivers of sustainable profitability, productivity, capital efficiency and risk-adjusted growth commensurate with SBI's scale. Our long-term ambition is aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047, and our strategy is anchored around a long-term horizon with a continuous investment in people, processes, products and technology. The new YONO represents a fundamental re-design of our digital operating model through YONOization of the bank. Beyond acquisition, the focus is on lowering cost to serve, enhancing customer value, and improving lifetime value. Scaling YONO from 10 crore registered users to 20 crore over the next two to three years is expected to support operating leverage and ROA sustainability. CHAKRA, our Center of Excellence for Sunrise Sectors, institutionalizes our ability to support prudent capital allocation in emerging segments.
We have initiated, as I mentioned last time, a process simplification and a phased deployment of nearly 10,000 Seva Sarathis, our floor coordinators at high footfall branches for migrating routine transactions to digital channels. Collectively, these initiatives support consistent performance across cycles with growth that is profitable, well-capitalized, and prudently risk managed. On the performance front, I'm happy to share that the bank has declared the highest ever quarterly net profit of INR 21,028 crore, and total business has crossed INR 103 trillion, reflecting customers' continued trust in us. The net profit is up by 24.49% year-on-year, driven by higher operating profitability and lower credit costs at 0.29%. The operating profit is INR 32,862 crore, up 39.54% year-on-year.
The net interest income is INR 45,190 crore, up 9% year-on-year, while the domestic NIM stands at 3.12% for the quarter. Bank's total deposits growth has remained healthy, with 9.02% year-on-year, along with current account registering growth in double digits at 10%, 10.32%, with CASA ratio at 39.13% despite very competitive market environment. Retail term deposits have grown by a robust 14.54%. Deposits at our foreign offices have also grown well at 8.32% on a year-on-year basis. The credit growth was up 15.14% year-on-year as on December 25, which was driven by all the segments registering growth.
The domestic credit deposit ratio was at 72.98% at the end of Q3, an improvement of 404 basis points year-on-year. All the components of RAM, retail, agriculture, and SME, have witnessed robust growth. The corporate credit has seen a rebound and has grown by 13.37%. The asset quality continues to be industry leading, with gross NPAs at 1.57%, improving by 50 basis points, and net NPA at 0.39%, improving by 14 basis points. Notably, the PCR was up 88 basis points year-on-year to 75.54%. The NPAs continues to be at its lowest level in our over two decades, which demonstrates the quality of our loan portfolio, disciplined credit practices, underwriting capability, and sustained recoveries.
The bank remains well capitalized, and the capital adequacy ratio has improved by 101 basis points year-on-year and stands at 14.04%, which is well above the regulatory minimum requirements. Further, our subsidiaries continue to demonstrate consistent performance and strengthen value for all our stakeholders with their expansion of digital channel, innovative products, and enhanced customer experience. At digital front, we have continued to make steady and meaningful progress. We see digital transformation as a continuous journey of evolution, and YONO remains central to this journey. With over 9.65 crore registered customers and registrations for our new YONO crossing the 3 crore mark within a short period of one month since its launch, reflecting strong and sustained adoption. Digital channels are now firmly embedded in our customers' behavior.
While we are encouraged by our performance in Third Quarter, we remain mindful of structural shifts in the financial system, particularly the increasing financialization of household savings. Over time, this trend will gradually reshape bank balances towards more diversified and market-based funding, supported by greater innovation and deeper integration of digital platforms. At SBI, we are proactively adapting by strengthening our liability franchise, increasing our share of current accounts, and leveraging YONO to enhance customer acquisition and retention. Our strategy is forward-looking, focused on technology and analytics to remain competitive and future ready. We remain sharply focused on efficiency and return metrics, with our ROA consistently greater than 1% and ROE at 20.68% at the end of Q3.
SBI is among the very few global financial institutions capable of sustaining a ROA of over 1% at this scale, with an advances book of approximately INR 47 trillion, investments about INR 17 trillion, deposits of around INR 57 trillion, and a balance sheet size of nearly INR 72 trillion. Our strong asset quality reflects disciplined, risk-adjusted lending and portfolio resilience, while robust internal capital generation supports future CET1 accretion and long-term growth. Our people remain central to this journey, supported through focused training, continuous upskilling, and an inclusive work culture, ensuring a skilled and motivated workforce in a rapidly evolving banking landscape. To conclude, I would like to thank all of you once again for your continued support and engagement with the bank. Our priorities remain firmly aligned with supporting India's economic growth while creating long-term, sustainable value for all stakeholders.
My team and I will now be happy to take your questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Chairman, sir. We now invite questions from the audience. For the benefit of all, we request you to kindly mention your name and company before asking the questions. To accommodate all the questions, we request you to restrict your questions to maximum two at a time. Also, kindly restrict your questions to the financial results only, and no question be asked about a specific accounts, please. In case you have additional questions, the same can be asked at the end. We now proceed with the question and answer session, please.
Compliments to you, sir, for yet another good quarter, rather the one of the best quarter, profitability point of view, even asset quality point of view, and even business growth point of view, which was in the earlier first and Second Quarter was, I mean, not subdued, but better than that, if this quarter complements for the same. Having said this, sir, on the profitability, like, in the last quarter, we had that exceptional profit of the sale of Yes Bank shares. But in spite of that, I mean, this quarter's profit is matching the last quarter's profit.
And the main component, which I see here, is that on the investment profit and the revaluation, I mean, and miscellaneous income has gone up by up to INR 5,154 crore as against INR 2,897 crore, and also the Forex and derivatives. So about INR 2,500-INR 3,000 is that component. So what has contributed to this profit? Because but for that INR 4,500 crore of Yes Bank, I mean, the profit should have been lower in this quarter as compared to last quarter of about INR 3,000 crore. This is first.
First question. I'm just waiting for the next question, Ajmera Sahab. Please, go ahead. You want me to answer this first, and then we'll move on?
If you permit me. I don't know whether, shall I-
Yes, there are one more question, please.
Okay. The another one I saw that, in the last quarter, the business growth is very good, especially the credit growth. And now, having achieved that, would you revise your targets for the credit especially, so as to have the proper estimate of the profitability for the whole of the FY 2026 going forward, when the bank is doing well? One or two more things that our loan book has grown phenomenally at a very high speed, and as well as the... I think the personal loans have also grown. So, can you give some color going forward on the overall credit growth, segment-wise, coming forward? And the one observation is that this non-NPA provision of about INR 30,642 crore.
So this is the basically, beyond the requirement of the, I mean, as per the IRAC. So is it to take care of the ECL or to take care of any, any chunky account which you are looking or, or it's a floating provision you want to continue and rather increase it in future?
Thank you, Ajmera Sahab, for the good words which you mentioned. The profitability in Q3 has come from many levers. I did mention in Q1, Q2, that both on the growth side as well as on the profitability side, SBI has many levers, and we will continue to use them. If you see our fee-based income, I think most of these segments have shown good growth. That is cross-sell, up-sell, the government business, LC business also is remaining, and fee-based income in terms of processing charges and recovery in written-off accounts, and more importantly, the credit growth across the segments. Apart from that, we also have focused on you know, moderating the cost of resources, which has given the uptick in the net interest income.
Net interest income growth of 9% is a combination of both, you know, containing the cost of resources as well as the credit growth, which has happened. If I have to talk about one-off, I think the one item which is a dividend, special dividend we have received around INR 2,200 from SBI Mutual Fund. Even, even you net off this one-off, I think we have done fairly well in terms of every area, and also the modest credit costs also contribute to the uptick in the profitability. We also focused on the moderating operating expenses. While our staff costs have broadly risen, we tried to reduce the costs of overheads, and that also has been one of the reasons why you see the good profitability.
The credit growth advice, we had given 12%-14% credit guidance earlier. We are revising that upwards to 13%-15% for the current quarter. We will give a full year guidance when we meet again in the Q1. But for the current year, I think, this current quarter, we are revising our credit growth estimate to 13%-15% based on the trend which we have seen in the current quarter so far. Segment-wise, credit growth, I think, the growth has been secular.
If you see this slide, particularly, that, you know, we had given the guidance that we would be having a double-digit corporate credit growth in Q3, and we hope to continue that double-digit credit growth in the corporate side in Q4 also, which means that RAM would significantly be contributing to the growth- continue to contribute. We also see that corporate book growing in double digits, which means that our guidance of 13%-15% is coming from all the segments. Non-NPA provisions, I think, the COVID provisions, INR 3,500, is continuing, and there are some proactive provisions which we have done, account specific, but this broadly is also a standard asset provision. So the idea of presenting this is that we have the ability to-...
Take care of any untoward incidents and the way we want to manage the balance sheet. It's not that this is being built for the ECL. That's not the idea.
Just one more, sir, just one point. Sir, we have given the breakup of the AUCA account of INR 1,62,464 crore. Beyond 10 years is INR 23,000-odd crore, five years, INR 87,000 crore, and below five years, INR 51,000 crore. So in order to get the proper color for the recovery from the return of account, AUCA accounts, what kind of strategy and efforts which we are having, like, like beyond 10 years, what is the possibility? What kind of those accounts are between the five and 10, and below five, why not we have a higher percentage of recovery? Because if you see the underwriting quality in during last five years, I think your entire current five years loan book to NPA, just a guesswork, maybe even less than 0.75% or 1%.
I mean, the way I look at the current, this thing. So from recovery point of view, the five years means from the date of NPA till now. I mean, from the-
This is not 5 years.
Date of transfer.
Correct.
Transfer to that-
Okay.
- beyond five years.
Even older.
But still, more recovery or better chances. So-
See, in the re-
How do we look at it from the-
In the recent slippages, you would definitely have a better recoveries. In fact, much of the run rate, what we are witnessing around INR 2,000 crore per quarter, is also coming from the recent slippages, that is recent write-offs, which means around two to three year-old. You're right, I think less than five year return of accounts will have a better recovery rate. But I think this, the most appropriate way is to look at the portfolio level. And what we have given earlier guidance also, we are still seeking 6%-8% is the recovery which is possible in this portfolio, not beyond that.
While the age-wise, there could be some higher recovery and low recovery, and there could not be any recovery at all in some of the accounts, it is better to assume that, you know, we are looking at 6%-8% recovery overall. So I think we still stick to that guidance, Ajmera sir.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Hello, sir. Congratulations. Sir, I had a couple of questions. Firstly, in terms of your NIM outlook, longer term and even for the Fourth Quarter, you had, earlier, I think there was a guidance that NIM would be about 3% in the fourth quarter. So that, does that still hold? And, is there scope for cost of funds to come down further? That's part of the same question. So NIM outlook for fourth quarter and longer term, with focus on cost of funds. And secondly, in fees, the CEB income has grown very sharp. In fees, the CEB income has grown very sharply. So-
Which income?
CEB.
CEB. Yeah.
So, any comments you wanted to make on that? Because it's a sharp growth, QOQ and YOY. Just one more question, what would have been the interest on income tax refunds for this quarter and for last quarter? Yeah.
Okay. On the NIM front, I think we are still sticking, without calling it a short-term, long-term NIM, I think we have said that the exit NIM for the current year would be about 3%, and our long-term guidance is 3% through the cycles. I think we'll stick to that. There could be some upside here and there, but I think it's fair to assume that 3% guidance, about 3% guidance holds good, both for the Fourth Quarter, that means 2026 exit NIM and 2027, 2028 year NIM also. I think we are sticking to that 3% guidance. And on the CEB income, there has been a good growth in terms of life insurance.
The GST benefit, we have seen, I think the number of policies sold has also increased, that has contributed, and also the trail income from the mutual fund has also gone up. So there is a secular moment in terms of the CEB. CEB is basically the cross-sell income, right? So I think, that's, that's been a good growth story. We also enhanced the number of products which are made available through our counters and also on the YONO channel. That also has contributed to the growth in the CEB income. Interest on the IT refund. You have the numbers ready? Please.
Quarter Three, interest on income tax refund was INR 769 crore, and the similar amount last quarter was INR 372 crore.
Okay, sir. Sir, and cost of funds, the scope for deposit costs to come down?
Cost of funds, I think what we have done strategically is that we focus more on the retail deposits. We have not moved to the wholesale deposits. Even in the wholesale deposits, we moved more into bulk card rate deposits. That means they are almost equivalent to the retail term deposit rates. We've seen a good growth on the card rate. We have not gone aggressive on the differential interest rates or high-cost deposits. That has also helped us in terms of containing the cost. But we should also remember that the 39% cost at this level is also contributing to bringing down the cost. And we got the full benefit of savings bank reduction in interest rate to 2.5, and current account, 10% growth rate is also helping us to contain the cost of funds.
I think broadly, the cost of funds will remain at this level for the Q4 also. We don't want to go beyond Q4. I think we will take a call in the Q1. We may have to see how the credit growth is going to play out, because all these trade deals are extremely positive, right? So there would be definitely an improved credit climate, while Q1 of any financial year is generally a slow quarter. We will take a call in terms of how our deposit strategy will play out while we have adequate liquidity and as well as capital buffers to support the credit growth.
Thank you, sir.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Sir, Jai Mundhra from ICICI Securities. Sir, just continuing on the previous question, you said that COF, cost of funds may not remain stable, right? Is it because that the bulk deposit rates in the system, they have actually shot up in the last two, three months? Is that one of the reason? Because otherwise, your retail deposit should keep repricing, right? Because what you had done in the June, July months, that should continue to flow through, right? So why would the cost of fund be stable until, unless there is some moving parts, some portion of the deposit where the rates are bit higher?
No, the cost of the, the retail term deposits are also high, even after repricing. See, broadly, the book has got repriced. Only last reduction in interest rate will be available for another six to eight months, probably the repricing will happen. What I'm seeing is that the stabilization of the interest rates on the retail term deposits also. There's nothing much we will be able to reduce. And that shows that, again, you know, what kind of deposit mobilization we need to do going forward if the credit growth comes. So Q4, I think broadly the numbers remain. There could be some repricing going forward because what we have done in the last quarter, the interest rate reduction will play out for some time.
But I broadly believe that, you know, the reduction in the cost of funds is unlikely. We will be maintaining at this level. Maybe, if we are able to mobilize a little more current accounts generally, which happens in the Q4, it may help us to moderate the cost of funds.
Right. Okay, and sir, on Xpress Credit, right? So now the portfolio is, has grown at 3%-4% QOQ. We have been maintaining that there is a decent, good pickup in the disbursement. Sir, actually, what would help if you can give the absolute INR crore number in disbursement, because that will give the more trend line, because the portfolio behavior may be slowly to, you know, see the growth. But if you can share the disbursement number in Xpress Credit, that will give a more clarity.
No, we don't disclose what kind of disbursements we do on each product. I think that's not appropriate. What we are seeking to that is that we were hoping to have a double-digit growth in Xpress Credit. There seems to be some movement towards gold loan. May not be significant. Some of these corporate salary package, these product is available only for the salary account holders. We are seeing that a part of that salary holder segment has availed gold loan, which they would have otherwise taken the Xpress Credit. It's for two reasons. One is the value of gold has gone up, so the amount of gold loan which they can get has increased, and the rate differential is significant. So that is probably has not resulted in the expected growth rate.
The very fact that, you know, we are able to manage this portfolio at this level, which means that, you know, our sanctions disbursements are robust.
Lastly, on gold loans, sir, so I think there is a 95% YOY increase in the portfolio. Is this entire organic or there is some reclassification from agri gold to retail gold? And, you know, what are the risk mitigant here, in the sense that what is the origination LTV and maybe the book LTV, because prices have been, you know, rising one way only.
So we do a deep dive on this portfolio, you know, every day. We monitor the LTVs. What we see that one is your first question in terms of shifts, there was some shift from agri gold loan to personal gold loan, but the shift shifted back after RBI is clarified on the agri gold loan. I think that shift is not happening too much anymore.
By the customer.
Hmm?
By the customer.
By the customer. So I think that is not a major worry. And the personal gold loan, NPA LTVs, you know, it's not only about the portfolio LTV. Sometimes portfolio LTV can be misleading because some of the two years ago, somebody has taken the gold loan, and when the price was low, then the outstanding versus the value would be significantly lower. But we bucket them, and bucket them on the both on the vintage as well as in terms of the amount. We see that the LTVs are extremely modest, and we have sufficient room in terms of the LTVs. For instance, I think in agri gold loan, the average LTV is 54.89%, and in case of personal gold loan, it is 51%.
Even if you take the latest vintage also, we don't go overboard on the LTVs. There's an adequate margin available on them. And another data point which I would like to give to you is that the number of gold loans auctioned is just about 20-30 in our huge portfolio of gold loans what we have. That means, you know, even if the price fluctuation is there or the margin, if you have to ask someone that, you know, the margin call, we don't call it margin call, but we found that nobody allows this account to become NPA. They just ensure that they pay off the loan. So this portfolio is holding up very well. There's no concern on this.
What, what is the Agri gold loan book, sir? If you may have. The retail we have given.
No, agri gold loan as on December is 144,000.
Okay. Thank you and all the very best, sir.
Sir, Sushil Choksey, Indus Equity.
Hi, Sir.
Sir, you are rightly called-- First of all, congratulations to you and SBI for a great performance. Sir, you had rightly called that the RBI rate reduction cycle is bottomed out, and it may not look anything negative when the interest rates scenario can be flat or upwards now onwards. Current volatility led by global factors, mainly. GST has been a benefit, budget has been benefit, the EU and the US trade would benefit. How are you seeing the scenario balancing on the rate cycle and the credit outlook based on all these parameters in the current year?
On the credit side, I think it's extremely positive. And two things: One is, the system itself will get benefited with the positivity which is created on the trade deals, on the GST, on the income tax, on the monetary measures, what have been announced. And more importantly, SBI is well-positioned in capitalizing on all these positive developments. That is also one of the reasons why I've given the revised guidance on the credit growth. So if you see the and even budget announcements, both on the infrastructure side, and we are also looking at what kind of infrastructure guarantee which will come. And MSME, for instance, the chakra, what I mentioned in terms of the sunrise sectors, many sectors have been mentioned in the budget itself.
That means, you know, our thought process is completely aligned with what the government initiatives are doing. So to that extent, I think SBI is well-positioned, and we also are a very large player in MSME, with 15%-16% market share and growing. We, I believe that SBI will get benefited in supporting MSME growth, both on the champion MSMEs. Even before the government had announced champion MSMEs, internally, we have started categorizing which are these MSMEs, which have huge growth potential. We try to categorize them into platinum, gold, and support them proactively in terms of their growth, technology, and market linkages. So many things, what we are trying to do with MSME aligns well with the developments which have happened, positive developments which have happened.
So I believe that we are on the right path in terms of the credit growth, and we are in the right path in terms both in India as well as cross-border opportunities, which will emerge on account of the trade deals.
Second question, sir: Led by all the factors, are you sensing, you know, government has given positive policy on data center, which means renewable will be required on a larger number. Nuclear is being talked about, shipbuilding is being spoken about. Are we getting any green shoots early, whether it's SBI Capital Markets assessing or internally on credit, that ticket size, which used to be INR 2,000 crore-INR 5,000 crore project, will be INR 30,000 crore-INR 50,000 crore kind projects?
We are active in data center financing. The mega data centers which are announced, you know, they, they still have to come with a business plan.
Mm.
I think wherever data center capacities are being created, we are part of that, journey. In terms of the other sectors, you are right, I think, there will be a good amount of demand for the green energy for these data centers. Renewable energy is one of the important, segments which we're focusing on. Incidentally, our green portfolio has reached INR 100,000 crore, which constitutes renewable energy predominantly. Which means that, you know, these growth opportunities are definitely being considered by us.
So your subsidiaries' contribution to the balance sheet is on uptick, specifically led by dividend, you said SBI Mutual Fund. Is this number on a higher growth trajectory, or it will remain flat from here?
Higher growth trajectory.
It will show higher contribution or...?
I think we, we definitely hope that, you know, the subsidiaries are doing very well, and I think they are also investing heavily into digitalization, customer-oriented initiatives. I don't know how much SBI Life talks to the investors. I would like to point out one major activity SBI Life does beyond the profits is Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. The PMJJBY, which is the micro insurance which is provided to financial inclusion customers through the banking channel, SBI, we have 47% market share in the PMJJBY, and fully anchored by the SBI Life. And there is absolutely no complaints on in terms of the settlement. They are the top of the category in terms of providing the customer service. And service at scale is something what SBI Life is able to achieve, and banca is going to play an important role in this.
We are also seeing the same trend continuing in the non-life mutual funds.... credit card business, I think, the combination of their digitalization and their underwriting processes, their customer orientation is helping us to increase our CVA income also.
Sir, can this number double in three years?
So our idea is that, you know, we set a target of $1 billion for CV income. If the rupee stays where it is, I think we should be able to reach that $1 billion CV income soon.
Thank you for answering all my questions.
Hi, Chintan Joshi here from Autonomous. Sir, can we remain on that topic of growth? With the trade deal, you know, there's a scope for corporate-led expansion, and you have the capacity on your balance sheet to grow. You know, is there where could you take your LDR ratio, if there is that demand, credit demand coming, be it trade deals or improving economy? And within that, if you do grow corporate loans, do they act as a drag on your NIMs, or are you able to link it with CASA growth and get it back some other way? Because traditionally, corporate loans would be a drag on your NIMs. That would be helpful color on that topic.
If you see the Q3 performance, you know, we have had almost more than 13% corporate credit growth. We have not compromised on the margins. We have ensured that the NIM guidance, what we have given is maintained despite 13% credit growth coming from the corporate side, which means that, you know, that philosophy of pricing the risk properly will continue. I think we never deviate from that. We also have ensured that the ecosystem banking in the corporate side is strengthened further. Today, I just want to tell you an inside story, that any corporate underwriting today, we have a checklist of 22 items which we monitor. Whether we have clear engagement on these 22 non-funding areas, whether it is cash management, whether it is salary accounts, whether it is letters of credit or foreign exchange.
So the awareness on the operating level has moved from corporate lending to corporate banking in a very significant manner, and the sensitivity towards this engagement is intense now. So which gives us confidence that even if we have to compromise on some pricing on a corporate, it would be purely based on what is the value which we are generating from the corporate. So I don't think we should have any concern in terms of margin compression with the corporate growth book coming back in a very significant manner, as we approved in Q3 also. We are very sensitive to that, the value creation from our corporate relationships, and I'm very glad to say that, you know, corporates are also responding in a similar fashion.
Some of the products which they were never using from SBI, we have improved the product profile, product delivery, and then they are too happy to take the products from us. It's a long journey, but I think we are there in the right direction. On the LDRs, I mean, the credit deposit ratio, I think we do not want to give a guidance. Obviously, it's an evolving situation. We have. In the short term, we are very confident that the credit growth, whatever we are envisaging, that in 15% will be comfortably be met by our liquidity as well as capital ratios.
The reason I asked the question was because there was a 3.2% increase in LDR ratio this quarter.
Yes.
NIMs are broadly flat. Now, I understand your international NIMs are down, but a 3.2% increase in LDR should be associated with better NIMs. That's why I asked that question.
3.2% LDR is also coming from the working capital draws.
Okay.
Typically, working capital, loans don't give the yield pickup as much as you expect. It's not coming only, from the term loans alone. So the working capital loans are reasonably priced, and these are high quality, exposures.
Okay.
Which is also one of the reasons why you don't see the... One more important thing which I keep talking about is you look at our RWAs.
Yeah.
Despite this growth-
Yes.
We have not significantly enhanced our RWAs, and that is also one of the reasons why you don't see the commensurate pickup in our margins.
Yes.
We play very cautiously on the risk side also.
Yes. So second question was on the, the question from Jai on cost of funds. Wouldn't it be a failure of transmission if the Q4 deposits from last year didn't reprice this year and gave a benefit on cost of funds? Because we've seen a December rate cut that is struggling through pass-through on the liability side, not just, you know, from what you're indicating, but also for the system, which leads to margin contraction because the EBLR book reprices. So how do you see that puzzle? You know, there should be transmission from that fourth quarter last year to the Fourth Quarter this year.
So the-
Would be my guess.
Sorry.
Yeah, no, yes.
December rate cut has not resulted in any repricing of deposits. I don't think anybody... I don't think we have done-
No, it hasn't. It hasn't stopped actually.
So that, technically, that transmission did not happen on the deposit side. Well, it had happened on the asset side.
Yes.
So, the overall transmission, if you see, I think the governor has also mentioned on the stock, it is only 45 basis point.
Mm-hmm.
On the incremental deposits, I think the passing on of the interest rate on the deposits would be around 80-85 basis points. 90-95 basis points is something what happened. So full transmission is unlikely to happen on the deposit side. So the repricing, which benefited, I think 75%-80% repricing has already happened.
Yeah. But, sir, exactly the point, right? 45 going to 80 should reflect in your balance sheet next quarter as well.
It will reflect in this quarter, definitely.
Okay.
But it may not be very significant. That is what I was trying to say.
Okay. Thank you.
Sir, excellent Q3 numbers.
Who is that?
Manoj Alimchandani.
No, no, no, of course.
Excellent Q3 numbers. Just magic. Hats off to the management team and all the employees.
Thank you.
Really wonderful. Now, couple of questions. One is, would like to know your thoughts, particularly for the branch expansion globally in the United States and EU, with the kind of sentiments totally turning around, it seems we should have a greater share of the global pie in business. Apparently, banking, we are a top, and you also are number 1 consumer banker globally, right? We talked about that. So your thoughts... We would expect it should be, may not be too early, just your thoughts ultimately how to execute it. That could be a good scope for substantial increase in number of branches, regions, globally. It can, I think, maybe more than double, scope for more than doubling in the next three years. One is that.
Next thing is our leadership, we started with that, has been contributing to banking sector in a great way, particularly recent couple of last month's announcements. Our MDs are heading, Arijit Basu, chairman of IndusInd Bank, number five bank in India, and Vijay, also the CEO of Yes Bank. So two great contributions, number five and number six, are contributed by SBI. But surprisingly, we were all wondering what happened. We need a CFO from outside. Advertisement for a contract arrangement came. It came out of the blue. When we have the topmost leaders, we need to contribute CFOs to the top 10 banks globally. So if you can just share your thoughts on that.
Next is, our SEBI chairman talked about the good thing intent on corporate bond market. It has been a struggle we have seen for last 25 years, but he, in fact, said there is huge scope for multiplying the bond market. Now, here, what could be the thing we can gain significantly by way of investment in corporate bonds? Because we get about 50 to 150 basis point better rates in investment in corporate bonds than in lending. Of course, it would also have an impact on the fund raise, but in deposit raise, we are again much ahead of the curve. So if you can share your thoughts on this. And of course, there are another latest news which came in mutual fund. Yesterday, the global head of BlackRock was here.
We are talking about multiplying the mutual fund industry by two in five years. So that could be opportunity for us also, because we are the running the largest mutual fund. In fact, if we delay the IPO and come after five years, we can get 3 x the market cap, based on this kind of things. Your thought process on this?
Thank you, Ajit. Thank you very much. I think, on the expansion, overseas expansion, most of these geographies where, barring New Zealand, where the FTAs are, trade deals are signed, we have good presence and very large presence at it. For example, U.S., New York branch is the largest operations for us, and in this jurisdiction, we are broadly the, wholesale bankers. And I believe that in the trade deals are going to help us mostly in the corporate and MSME funding, which is an opportunity which is available locally here, and we would like to definitely take that opportunity. And any of these corporates accessing the overseas market, we have presence across geographies here, and our ability to fund those transactions, either by way of trade finance or by way of LC and ECB , is very, very, large.
I don't think we need to look at branch expansion. In the E.U. area, we have two fairly large branch, both, one in Frankfurt and in Antwerp. And these branches are taking care of the overall requirements. In the U.S., if you see, we have wholesale banks both in New York and Chicago and Los Angeles, and we have retail presence in the whole of California. And that is where I feel that there is some expansion in the retail side is potentially possible. We are expanding—for instance, we will soon be opening a branch of SBI California in Dallas, because they can open multi-state branches. So I think we will be selective in terms of physical expansion. We also would like to use our YONO Global, which is a digital app across the geographies.
Almost, I think, 11-12 geographies, we already launched YONO Global. We would like to build retail presence through YONO Global, not by opening the physical branches. So I think on the overseas expansion, I don't think we'll be aggressive. I want to be clear on that. If opportunities arise in the new geographies, we'll definitely look at it. And the corporate bond market, I fully agree with you that I think we've been talking about corporate bond market deepening for so many years. There are many reasons, but it is time now the corporate bond market has to become vibrant. Our participation in corporate bond market is based on what is our credit growth. If there is a loan growth requirements, our priority is to fund that loan growth. But we also have a mix.
If you see all our large corporates have loan limits as well as investment limits, which facilitate us to put the corporate, you know, NCD subscriptions. But I think, one more development what probably would help in terms of further strengthening is the partial credit enhancement, which is now allowed by the RBI. The partial credit enhancement will enable slightly lower-rated corporates to access the bond market. Today, it is typically dominated by triple-A companies. So how do we bring A-rated or double A-rated companies into bond market? Through partial credit enhancement is something what we're working on. And the CFO, I'm sure that you made that comment on the lighter note. The CFO, there are the typical qualifications which RBI has fixed. We would definitely be creating the pipeline.
In the interim, we needed a market resource, but it is also open to our internal, candidates. If somebody is available, we'll definitely consider that. Mutual fund, we are not fully exiting, so we still have potential to monetize, further when, when market improves. I see a great, opportunity for mutual fund growth, and SBI Mutual Fund will be playing a very, very large role in this. Thank you.
Sir, one more recognition I would like to highlight for benefit of all, particularly congrats to you on our DMD Finance for getting the Corporate Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Regulator award.
Thank you.
Again, last year we got it. I was involved in the process, and this year SBI has gotten and also Yes Bank has also got it. So that also uploads it to you and the team.
Thank you.
Congrats once again.
Yeah, hi, can you hear me?
Yeah.
Ankit Bihani from Nomura. So I wanted to ask about the outlook on the treasury income now. So given that the yields have hardened and we assume it remains status quo, so how do you see-
Where are you?
Yeah, yeah.
Mm.
So should we see our treasury income moderating sharply from here on, or we do have, we can sell AFS securities or participate in OMO through HTMs to manage treasury income? My first question is on that. The second question is on LCR. So what is our average LCR for the quarter, and what would be the impact of the new norms, when they get implemented in first April? And the third question is, on your fee income breakup, you give, miscellaneous fee income as a part as well. So we have seen decent pickup there in the last two quarters. What is driving that, and what is that fee, basically? Thank you.
You want to take it?
So treasury income side, we are, at least we are not envisaging any significant decline, what you are saying. So, so this number should be, should continue like this, not more. There not be any reduction. Overall, so if we are talking about treasury, overall market is Forex income, treasury income, equity investment-
If I exclude the Forex income, I'm just talking about your HFT, FV TPL book. So if the yields harden, so you have to mark to market on that book, right?
That's right.
Then how do you manage the treasury income? Either we sell AFS security-
But there are opportunities also then. So there are opportunity also when something very has happened, yield goes up and we have the MTM hits. So this quarter also-
Mm.
We have seen this happening not because of the MTM, but we have to be covered somewhere else. So largely this will-
So do you mean this is something structural that can continue for a longer time, or?
No, we have opportunity for making some other income somewhere else.
No, see, I think-
Getting enough.
Just to clarify what he's trying to say is that, if your question is in terms of, how do we manage the yield moment? So our internal view is that the yields probably will range from 6.55 to 6.75. In this range, there is no concern on the MTM, hit. And in any case, the Q3 numbers have not been built on the MTM gains, we have seen. We believe that there may not be great contribution coming from the positive MTM on the, book. The negative MTM could be impact would be less because FV TPL HFT book is small. Even if that there is a movement of the yields, I don't think there is going to be any significant impact on the MTM.
We also have, as Ashok was mentioning, an opportunity to, as you mentioned, participate in the OMOs, participate in the buybacks, and we even participate. I mean, do the trading. If you see, I think the trading profits have been robust for the last two quarters. So that will continue. That process will continue.
Okay.
Anything unanswered remain?
Yes, yes.
No, it's understood.
1.2-1.3, that is the numbers mostly.
125.
125 .
125 ?
Yes.
The third question was on the miscellaneous fee income line item.
Fee income, miscellaneous fee income, I think there you have, miscellaneous fee income is a very diversified income streams. But if you really have to put, I think, some of the major ones is, cash management services, what we provide, and also, the mobile banking, charges which we collect, account maintenance charges, for non-savings bank customers. Annual inspection charges and a host of other charges. These are all diversified income stream. We also adjust it for the GST payment which, which happens, so that is the net figure which is shown here.
Thank you for answering my question.
Yeah. Hi, sir, Kunal Shah over here from Citigroup. So firstly, when you look at it overall in terms of the growth traction, how are we seeing the catch-up on the PSL side, particularly on SMF, as well as weaker section? Because at this pace of growth, do we see some shortfall coming through towards the end of the year and that might have a drag in terms of investments on our IDF? And what are the initiatives being taken if we grow at, like, 14, 15%, is that pace catching up? Secondly, on CA, when you look at it particularly, there has been a decline during the quarter on a sequential basis. No doubt, we are at a double-digit, we were growing at eighty-odd% as well. So is it more of a quarter-end phenomena? And maybe how do we see?
Because I think for most of the players, we have seen car picking up on the private side. So is there some loss in market share which is happening on the car front? Yeah. So, and last-
I'll take these two questions and come back.
Yeah.
Because they are very two important questions which you asked.
Yeah.
I want to answer them. The current account, we are predominantly seeing on the private side, despite, you know, actually the significant decline on the government business, is virtually drying up on the government current account. So in the last one to two years, we focused completely on the private side, business accounts, and that has given us current account uptick. And current account also is not a quarter-end or month-end phenomenon. We monitor in terms of the daily average balance to a quarter-end number, and it is very robust. It's more than 80%-85%, which means that your daily average balances are holding up. So this is not... Obviously, there will be a month-end and quarter-end movement, which is unavoidable, but we are very comfortable in terms of this ratio, that your daily average balance to quarter-end balance.
The other one is in terms of PSL. PSL, as you grow the book, PSL pressure will come. We have been addressing that in various forms. One is the organic growth PSL targets are given to every business segment, including the corporates. We know that, you know, we do a lot of on-lending to a lot of NBFCs, where they qualify for PSL, and we clear monitoring. In fact, what we suggested that if an NBFC, MFI is there or NBFC is there, which has got a PSL only funding, which is from us, we are willing to give some discount on our rate. Which means that we would like to prevent the bleeding on the PSLC side, and we are broadly are able to do that. The subsegments which you mentioned, definitely are the concerns for everyone, the small and marginal farmers and...
Because the whole portfolio is very small, and our requirement is 7.5% of the overall portfolio. I think it's, it's, it is creating an, an imbalance. And we also don't want to aggressively push up the PSLC purchases, so that, you know, if year-end PSLCs will push up the premium. What we have done is that we have front-loaded our PSLC purchases in the Q2 itself. We virtually have not moved to PSLC market in Q3 at all. So we do a lot of things in terms of reducing the PSLC, PL, PSL burden. Hopefully, I think, the new guidelines, there are some positives in the guidelines. We are just evaluating how the PSL movement will happen in our book.
The reason was, as you mentioned, like, when Chintan was also checking on overall LDR expansion, but not improvement in margins, which you mentioned is because of working capital drawdown as well as corporate, which is low yielding. Then, is it like maybe, well, do we factor in the cost of PSL, which is there at the time of doing that business? Because both these segments have grown quite robustly, like, SME is up 10% quarter-on-quarter, corporate is up, like, 8% quarter-on-quarter.
So much of the SME growth is in the qualifying PSL category, so that's not a big worry. MSME growth is not a worry, but I think on the corporate credit growth, we definitely consider various cost factors. While we do primarily look at the risk involved and how do we price the risk, we also look at our cost of funds and what is the alternate mechanism of investing those funds. We have a simple mechanism called risk-adjusted non-capital. I think we did mention earlier also. So the capital optimization is also core to our pricing strategy. And the PSL cost, many a time, is worked out on a portfolio basis, not on an individual account basis. Those costs are definitely accounted for.
One last question. No plans to tweak MCLR from the current level, no? So we'll hold on to our MCLR rates?
No, MCLR is an arithmetical calculation. As long as the cost of deposits remain at that level, I don't think MCLR related-
Yeah, so given that incrementally we are not tweaking cost of deposits in any bucket, so then-
We are not.
So then we should consider, like, MCLR will remain at the same level.
Yeah. So at this juncture, neither we are considering any tweaking on the deposits. Alco will take the call, but, I don't think any MCLR movement is likely to happen in near term.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
... I'm audible, right?
Yes.
So Sujeet here from Ambit Capital . So a couple of questions. On the employees' provision, it's 25% and 32% lower QOQ and YOY. So what's the reason on that, and any calculations on new labor code that will be affecting us?
We did the assessment of the new labor code. There's no noticeable impact because our wage structure is broadly aligned with the labor codes. That means no impact, except that there is a requirement of providing for gratuity of contractual employees who have completed one year. Earlier, it was five years. It's been reduced to one year. The net impact is only INR 16 crore provision which we had to make. So I think we are broadly in alignment with labor codes, but we are also looking for the rules, regulations to come, and if any assessment is required to be done, we'll do. But I don't think there is going to be any impact on the labor codes. The first thing you asked in terms of provisions.
Essentially, the provisions have come down on the staff expenses, provision for pension. These provisions are based purely on the actual assessment, and the discount rates have moved up, which means that the requirement of provision has come down.
Run rate will be in the similar lines of Q3, so it's around three-
Q4 remain. Q4, I think, run rate should be similar.
Going forward also, this should be the run rate?
Next year we will assess, because this actual assessment happens every quarter.
But it's not a one-off active, actual?
There is nothing unusual movement in that provisioning.
Okay. On the second, so how much of the 100 basis point rate cut that previously happened has been translated into yields? How much is left on that side? And what's the current MCLR book, and how do you see the repricing of the latest 25 basis points that will happen in our yields?
You asked so many things together. Please. So, MCLR book, see, we have, if you divide the whole book, we have 50% MCLR and fixed rate, and 50% EBLR and other benchmark rates. That means, around 45%-48% book is floating. The rest is not really floating, MCLR are fixed rate. The other one?
So full repricing of the 100 basis points is done, we can assume that?
100 basis point?
Last 100 basis points and the latest decision.
No, EBLR book, anyway, the complete on 25 basis points has been passed on.
On MCLR, is there any-
MCLR, MCLR could be... I don't know. I don't have the number. We'll give you that sample.
Latest, the 25 basis points rate cut, how do you see yields affecting going forward Q4 and FY 2027?
The previous rate cut?
Yeah, December 25 .
December rate cut, I think it will take some time to transmit in the deposits, but we have not cut the deposit rates.
No, I meant on the yield side only.
Sorry?
On the yield side only, yield on asset-
Yield side, I think it is about INR 800 crore or something, and overall, full year basis. Margins, I think one basis point or something what we have worked out.
Okay. So trajectory, anything of 25 basis point?
Sorry?
Trajectory of the passing on the yields of the 25 basis point, if you can share thoughts.
Sorry, I didn't get your question.
Okay, I'll get back then.
Okay.
All right.
Hi, hi, sir. Nitin Aggarwal from Motilal.
Yes, Nitin.
Congrats on a strong quarter. And sir, my question is again around the cost. If you look at, like, last two quarters, we have been reporting very controlled costs, growth. The OPEX this quarter is, like, a slight decline, and we are now talking to further raise the loan growth guidance. So how do you see the cost income ratio to play out over the next two, three years?
So the growth, credit growth is not substantially going to enhance the costs, the operating costs at least. Maybe, you know, the interest costs, we, we would like to manage the interest costs, as I mentioned, in terms of moderating the cost of deposits, focusing on the CASA. So our objective is to keep the cost to income ratio below 50. I think that guidance we had earlier given, we are sticking to that guidance.
Right, sir. And second is on the ROA, wherein we have talked about to maintain 1% ROA guidance. Now, that if I look at nine months, we are tracking higher than that. So will you want to review that? And any further levers, if you want to highlight, which can take ROA higher in the coming years?
I think we still stick to that 1% guidance. I don't want to jump the gun at this juncture. It's playing out well, and we also are mindful of our RWA density. I think this is something which we are very conscientious about that, which means that you can't have a jump in the ROA. We want to be consistent on the ROA front. I think the guidance will remain at 1%. What is the other one you asked?
Just any, any levers, I think...
No, there are quite a few levers, but I think the levers point out that, you know, we will maintain this 1% guidance through the cycles. I think that's very important, too. We are not giving the guidance only for one quarter or one year. We said our guidance is 1% ROA through the cycles.
Right, sir. Thank you so much.
Hi, sir. Sir, Sir.
Yeah.
Sir, Prateek from DAM Capital. Sir, one question on private CapEx. Last time you had made a comment that it is improving.
and, with some of the corporate growth revival, do you think it will further pick up? And what is our pipeline in terms of corporate book ahead?
I'll ask Ashwini into this.
So the pipeline is INR 786,000 crore, with a sanction but not disbursed, about INR 440,000 crore, and the pure without sanction pipeline, INR 345,000 crore. That's a total undisbursed plus pipeline. So pipeline, pure pipeline is INR 345,000 crore. In terms of growth in the corporate side, yes, you are right, we are seeing pick ups. And two new things which will help us next year. One is the announcement by RBI on REITs. So that's a market so far we were not allowed to. That's about, it's a large market and growing fast, so we hope to develop something there. And also InvITs, if the guidelines finally when they come, we'll hope to start doing that as well.
Those two will help us to give us more basis to increase the corporate book and in better margins, because both these segments are better paying than some of the other segments. And we also seeing other pickup happening in the corporate side, especially on power, including renewables, metals, and also infrastructure.
Yeah, sure.
Due to paucity of time, we will now take up a few questions coming in through the online webcast, which will be addressed by the chairman, sir.
This first question is Bunty Chawla. Loan growth guidance for FY 2027. FY 2027, we said that we'll give the guidance somewhere in Q1. But for the current quarter, I think we have revised our credit growth guidance from 12%-14% to 13%-15%. Kanika: Do you see credit growth sustaining with such wide credit deposit growth gap? I think we have had a long discussion on the credit growth, and we do not see, as I mentioned, any challenge. We have adequate liquidity buffers as well as capital buffers in our book. Credit growth outlook, Akhilesh Gupta. The credit growth for the bank for Q3, 15.14%, and as I mentioned, we have revised the earlier guidance from 12%-14% to 13%-15%.
Outlook on NIM, I think is broadly addressed. We are still sticking to our exit NIM of 3% for the year and 3% through the cycles. Kartik, what would be the guidance for ROA? I think that again, we have answered 1% through the cycles. In which area of business do we—we have earned more? I believe we have earned everywhere, I suppose. But I think the some of the lines of business are more profitable, like Xpress Credit. The portfolio of 3.5 lakh was definitely gives us a yield pickup. But I also mentioned in terms of the ecosystem improvement in the corporate banking side, which is also contributing to the income levels.
One of which we did mention is in terms of the dividend payout from the mutual fund. Sangeeta: Could you give color on the other income, which element showed growth and is sustainable? I think other income, fee income, treasury, forex, all have showed growth. CVE income, that is customer value enhancement income, also had shown significant growth, and we believe that it is sustainable. Lavish, what are the components in miscellaneous income? I think we have answered this miscellaneous income segment, but you are talking about INR 5,000 crore. I think in this, there's INR 2,200 crore from the mutual funds and recovery from written off accounts, about INR 2,600 crore. These are the two major elements in the miscellaneous income. What was the interest on IT refund in the quarter?
I think, that was answered by our DMD finance. It is INR 769 crore Q3 and INR 40 crore in the previous quarter. Kiran Shah: What is the yield on gold loan portfolio? Is ticket size average, LTV at origination, and at end 2025, December 2025. Yield on personal gold loan portfolio as on 31 December is 8.61%, with average ticket size of INR 2.64 lakh. LTV, I did mention that, it is 56.57% in December 2024, which has come down to 51.18% in December 2025. Vishal Gupta: GNPA and NNPA ratios have improved further this quarter. Which segments are driving this improvement? I think, overall improvement in the, all the segments, is driven. Of course, corporate has, no asset quality issues.
Corporate NPA has gone down by INR 1,800 crore. So foreign offices also have shown decline in the NPAs. Param, can you give a breakup of accrual pool between retail, agriculture and MSME? SME is INR 34,000 crore, agriculture is INR 7 crore, retail is INR 7,000 crore, and corporate is INR 110,000 crore. Rohit: What has been the impact of the new labor codes? I think we did make a mention on the labor code impact. It is not significant at all. It's just about INR 16 crore provision we had to make to comply with the norms. M.B. Mahesh: Could you walk us through what is the total gold loans in retail, SME and agriculture? SME, we have not much of a portfolio.
Agri gold loan is INR 144,000 crore, and personal gold loan is INR 86,000 crore. Thank you.
I trust all the questions have been addressed. We'll be happy to respond to other questions in offline mode. Let me end the evening with thanking Chairman, Sir, MD sirs, DMD sir, top management team, senior officials of the circles and various offices connected through webcast, analyst, investors, ladies and gentlemen. We thank you all for taking time out of your schedule and joining us for the event. To round off this evening, we request you all present here to join us for high tea, which is arranged just outside this hall. Thank you. Thank you so much.