State Bank of India

Gross advances grew 18.63 percent against deposits at 9.73 percent, a gap of nearly nine percentage points that is the number to watch. The bank is lending far faster than it is funding, and the CASA ratio slipped to 39.24 percent from 39.36 a year earlier, so the incremental funding is coming from costlier term deposits. Domestic net interest margin still held at 3.00 percent, up 7 basis points sequentially and down 1 basis point on the year, so the growth has not yet cost spread. Asset quality improved on every measure: gross NPA at 1.47 percent against 1.83 a year ago, net NPA at 0.38 percent, provision coverage including written-off accounts at 91.82 percent, and credit cost at 0.27 percent against 0.47. Loan loss provisions fell 31.92 percent, which is doing real work in the profit line since operating profit rose 9.77 percent to 33,529 crore. Growth was fastest where it is least tested, with agriculture advances up 25.43 percent and SME up 22.33 percent. CET-1 improved 179 basis points to 12.89 percent, so the balance sheet can fund the gap for now.

The asset manager runs 29.5 lakh crore rupees, the largest book in India. A thin listing pop after a 41 times book is the market pricing the growth cautiously.