State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, on Friday reported over three-fold jump in September quarter profit, despite higher provisions. The bank has posted a 218 per cent year-on-year growth in its net profit at Rs 3,011.73 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2019, helped by higher net interest income and improvement in asset quality.

"The bank had posted net loss of Rs 944.87 crore in the same quarter last year," SBI said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The public sector lender's net interest income (NII), which is the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 17.67 per cent to Rs 24,600 crore in Q2FY20 versus Rs 20,906 crore in Q2FY19.

Non-interest income or other income increased to Rs 12,023 crores in Q2FY20 from Rs 9,375 crores in Q2FY19, registering an increase of 28.24 per cent Y-o-Y.

SBI's operating profit jumped 30.88 per cent to Rs 18,199 crore in September quarter of this fiscal from Rs 13,905 crores in the year-ago period.

The bank's provisions and contingencies improved significantly by 1,049 basis points Y-o-Y from 70.74 per cent as on September 2018 to 81.23 per cent as on September 2019.Sequentially also, PCR has improved by 189 bps.

SBI's asset quality improved during September quarter with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio - bad loans as a percentage of gross advances - declining to 7.19 per cent versus 9.95 per cent in the previous year. Net NPA also fell to 2.79 per cent as compared to 4.84 per cent in the corresponding period last year. In absolute terms also, gross NPA has declined both Y-o-Y as well as sequentially, the bank said.

During July-September quarter, gross slippage stood at Rs 8,805 crore as against Rs 16,212 crore during Q1FY20. The bank's board has not declared any dividend for the second quarter ended September 30, 2019.

Boosted by strong Q2, SBI shares jumped 7.80 per cent to trade at Rs 283.20 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar