



SBI: The worst of margin pressure could be over after Q4’s sharp sequential drop
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.State Bank of India’s (SBI) shares have fallen nearly 10% in the past two trading sessions to around ₹980, with most of the decline coming after its March quarter (Q4FY26) results announced late Friday.The trigger: net interest income (NII) growth lagged loan growth. While interest-earning assets, mainly loans and investments, rose 14% year-on-year, NII grew just 4% as asset yields declined sharply.On advances, management clarified that external benchmark lending rate (EBLR—repo and treasury bill-linked) loans, which account for roughly 50% of total loans, were repriced lower following the RBI’s 25 basis points (bps) repo rate cut in December.The marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) was also reduced by 5 bps, weighing on loan yields.As a result, domestic net interest margin (NIM) fell 19 bps sequentially to 2.93% in Q4FY26.On the investment side, interest income declined 3% year-on-year as the bank sold higher-yielding securities.This move likely helped offset a mark-to-market (MTM) loss of ₹4,522 crore on its bond portfolio due to hardening yields.
Overall treasury loss was contained at ₹1,471 crore, implying trading gains of ₹3,051 crore.The trade-off: lower interest income and NII, but a significantly reduced treasury hit.Excluding treasury volatility, core pre-provisioning operating profit (PPoP) rose nearly 20% year-on-year to ₹29,174 crore.A bright spot was fee income. Loan processing charges jumped 55% year-on-year to ₹3,055 crore.
Management said it has seen a significant uptick in fees from retail as well as corporates and MSMEs.Fresh slippages increased 31% year-on-year and 24% quarter-on-quarter. However, overall asset quality improved, with gross NPAs falling 8
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