Friday, January 28 2005 15:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Aided by higher credit off take and lower cost of deposits, State Bank of India (SBI) has posted a 19.57 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 1,099.35 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2004 as compared to Rs 919.44 crore for the quarter the previous fiscal.

Total income rose to Rs 10,267.07 crore for the third quarter ended in December 31, 2004 as against Rs 8,559.34 crore in Q3 of 2003-04, SBI said in a release in Mumbai today 9Jan 28, 2005).

Net interest income recorded a 31.99 per cent growth in Q3 over same quarter last year due to higher level of advances and lower cost of deposits, the release said.

The net profit and total income for the nine month ended December 31, 2004 stood at Rs 3,239.64 crore (Rs 2,808.54 crore in April-December 2003) and Rs 29,209.75 crore (Rs 28,351.56 crore) respectively.

Advances grew by 29.98 per cent to Rs 1,95,565 crore as at end of December 2004 (from Rs 1,51,629 crore).

Retail advances in personal segment grew by Rs 10,431 crore and aggregate advances in this segment stood at Rs 43,581 crore as on December 31, 2004.

The average yield on the advances declined to 7.75 per cent from 8.32 per cent due to declining interest rates.

The deposits base grew to Rs 3,50,630 crore at the end of December 2004 (Rs 30,23,44 crore).

The cost of deposits, excluding India Millennium Deposit, declined to 4.74 per cent (from 5.65 per cent).