State Bank of India on Saturday reported the highest-ever quarterly profit at Rs 13,265 crore, up 74 per cent year-on-year, for the September quarter of FY23, buoyed by robust loan sales, higher interest income and lower provisions.

The country's largest lender said its total income increased to Rs 88,734 crore during the quarter under review from Rs 77,689.09 crore a year ago. The key net interest income rose 13 per cent to Rs 35,183 crore from Rs 31,184 crore.

 Of the total income, more than one-fourth or Rs 24,400 crore came from investment gains, though the bank has not booked profit from government securities in which it holds an additional exposure of over Rs 3.85 lakh crore, chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara told reporters during the earnings conference at the bank's headquarters.

 As the bank nearly passed on the entire rate by the central bank to borrowers as well as depositors, its domestic net interest margin improved to 3.55 per cent from 3.50 per cent earlier.

 The asset quality of the bank improved with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) crashing by 138 basis points (bps) to 3.52 per cent from 4.90 per cent a year ago, while net NPAs nearly halved to 0.80 per cent of the advances from 1.52 per cent in the year-ago period.

 As a result, provisions for bad loans declined to Rs 2,011 crore from Rs 2,699 crore on-year, the chairman said.

 In absolute terms, the gross NPAs declined by 13.83 per cent to Rs 1,06,804 crore and the net NPAs by 36.5 per cent to Rs 23,572 crore.

 While the bank earned an interest income of Rs 79,860 crore, up 15 per cent, its interest expenses rose 16.6 per cent to Rs 44,676 crore. Of the total income, the key net interest income rose 12.83 per cent to Rs 35,183 crore as its NIM (Net Interest Margin) improved by 5 bps to 3.55 per cent.