During the fourth quarter of FY25, the standalone net profit of State Bank of India (SBI) amounted to ₹18,642.6 crore while demonstrating a 10% year-on-year (YoY) reduction. Employee expenses at SBI increased 10.1% YoY to ₹18,005 crore, causing a major revenue drop.
The bank experienced reduced profitability because of its higher cost rate. Private sector financial institutions achieved better profits for the same reporting period than the State Bank of India. During FY25, the financial year, ICICI Bank achieved a net profit increase of 18%, which amounted to ₹12,629.6 crore.
HDFC Bank's net profit rose 6.7% YoY to ₹17,616.1 crore. These financial results demonstrate that private lenders maintain more substantial cost and profitability mechanisms. Throughout the year, SBI achieved an advanced growth of 12 per cent, maintaining a total balance of ₹42.2 lakh crore. The development occurred through expanding business from small and medium enterprises (SMES) and the agriculture segment customers. The growth of advances at ICICI Bank reached 13.3% YoY with a total value of ₹13.41 lakh crore. HDFC Bank achieved a 5.4% yearly growth in gross advances, totalling ₹26.4 lakh crore.
SBI's net interest margin (NIM) for the March 2025 quarter stood at 3.15%, down from 3.47% a year earlier. ICICI Bank reported a stronger NIM of 4.41%, while Kotak Mahindra Bank recorded 4.97%. These numbers highlight SBI's lower margin efficiency compared to private sector banks. Return on assets (RoA) also showed a similar trend.
SBI's annualised Roa was 1.12% in Q4 FY25, whereas ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank posted RoAs of 2.52% and 1.94%, respectively. Asset quality, however, remained stable. SBI's net NPA ratio improved to 0.47% from 0.57% in the year-ago period. ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank reported net NPAS of 0.39% and 0.31%, respectively.
Analysts project SBI to reach an EPS of ₹11.09 for the upcoming year and calculate its valuation at 9.5 times that. The market trusts the private banking sector more than the public sector, so ICICI Bank receives an average multiple of 19x. Despite its lower stock value, SBI's inferior operating performance might reduce potential investor enthusiasm. The State Bank of India obtained board authorisation to conduct a ₹25,000 crore QIP or follow-on offer plan for FY26 operation funding in the banking sector.