SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd. reported a 75% year-on-year jump in net profit for the September quarter, supported by a sharp decline in impairment losses and bad-debt expenses, even as operating costs continued to rise.
The credit card issuer's profit after tax climbed to Rs 778 crore in the second quarter of FY27, compared with Rs 445 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, according to its earnings release dated October 23, 2026.
Total income increased 3% year-on-year to Rs 5,302 crore from Rs 5,136 crore in the year-ago period. The growth was supported by higher fee and other income, which rose 6% to Rs 2,630 crore. Interest income increased 1% to Rs 2,511 crore.
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A key driver of the improvement in profitability was the decline in impairment losses and bad-debt expenses. These fell 37% year-on-year to Rs 819 crore in Q2 FY27 from Rs 1,293 crore a year earlier.
Profit before tax rose 74% to Rs 1,046 crore from Rs 600 crore in the year-ago quarter.
However, cost pressures remained. Finance costs increased 4% year-on-year to Rs 787 crore, which the company attributed to a higher cost of borrowings. Total operating costs rose 7% to Rs 2,649 crore from Rs 2,484 crore.
Earnings before credit costs declined 1% to Rs 1,865 crore, indicating that the improvement in the bottom line was driven largely by lower credit-related expenses rather than stronger pre-credit-cost earnings.
SBI Card continued to expand its portfolio during the quarter. Cards-in-force grew 8% year-on-year to 2.32 crore as of September 2026, compared with 2.15 crore a year earlier.
The company added 11.06 lakh new accounts during the quarter, up from 9.36 lakh in Q2 FY26. Spending on its cards increased 3% to Rs 1,10,689 crore from Rs 1,07,063 crore.
Receivables, however, declined 2% year-on-year to Rs 58,376 crore. Based on RBI data available through August 2026, SBI Card held an 18.5% share of cards-in-force, compared with 19% a year earlier. Its share of spending improved to 18.2% from 17.7%.
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Asset quality indicators also strengthened. Gross non-performing assets declined to 1.90% of gross advances as of September 30, 2026, from 2.85% a year earlier. Net NPAs fell to 0.77% from 1.29%.
The company's capital adequacy ratio stood at 26.5%, against 22.5% a year earlier, while its Tier-I capital ratio improved to 21.2% from 17.5%.
SBI Card's return on average assets rose to 4.4% from 2.6%, while return on average equity increased to 18.4% from 12.1%.
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