SBI Card Q2 Results: Net Profit Rises But Misses Estimates

SBI Cards & Payment Services Ltd.'s second-quarter profit rose powered by a surge in interest income earned by the India's only monoline credit card issuer.

Net profit jumped 28% year-on-year to Rs 526 crore in the June-September quarter, according to its filing. Analysts polled by Bloomberg estimated a Rs 626.55 crore net profit.

Sequentially, profit after tax fell 16% even though interest income rose 7%.

Interest income earned by the credit card company, which brands itself as SBI Card, jumped 27% year-on-year to Rs 1,484 crore in the second quarter. The issuer's cards in circulation rose 18% over a year earlier to 1.48 crore.

SBI Card's operating costs jumped 33% year-on-year to Rs 1,834 crore. The firm's net non-performing assets stood at 0.78% this quarter as against 0.79% in the previous quarter.

Gross non-performing assets fell 10 basis points over the previous quarter to 2.14% of gross advances. SBI Card's total assets at the end of the second quarter stood at Rs 41,581 crore, up 20% since March.

Shares closed at Rs 856.70 on Thursday or 1.40% higher compared to a 0.36% rise in the benchmark Sensex.