In first, SBI takes out Rs 485 crore in profit from overseas operations

Mumbai: State Bank of India on Friday said that for the first time it has repatriated Rs 485 crore of profit from its foreign operations, which helped boost the September quarter net by 10 percentage points to 25.12 percent at Rs 3,879 crore.

"We've repatriated Rs 485 crore profits from our global operations that contribute close to a quarter of our business. As far as I can recall, this is the first time in our history that we have taken out profit from overseas operations," SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya told reporters while announcing a market beating set of Q2 numbers.

She was quick to add that if at all Rs 485 crore is excluded, we would have still reported a 15 percent healthy rise in profits as other heads of non-interest income and interest income too reported healthy growth.

SBI has as many as 194 branches spanning 36 countries, and 377 correspondent banks in 86 countries and a few subsidiaries. But most of these operations are being carried out through branch routes. These operations contribute almost a quarter of the bank's business.

Bhattacharya said, "this Rs 485 crore has definitely helped us in reporting higher profit. Even if you take that out, we've a 15 percent rise, thanks to rise in loan book and our higher income from treasury operations which has gone up".

When asked whether the bank's going forward will continue to bring in profits from its overseas operations, she said, "I do expect some more money to flow in Q3. We are sure we don't want to keep the money parked with the branches idly going forward. But if you ask me if that will the case every quarter, I would say yes in most of the quarters".

However, she was quick to add that the bank will not be taking out capital from foreign operations, saying, "We don't want to do what private sector players do with the capital of our overseas arms. Anyway we don't have many foreign arms as most of our overseas operations are branch based. So there is not much need to pump capital into them".

Chief Financial Officer Anshula Kant said the bank normally pools in the profit from one country and then decide on the quantum to be taken out. "Also, we need government's approval for this. So if not in every quarter as and when we are comfortable, we'll be taking out profit now on," she added.

On October 30, the largest private sector lender ICICI Bank had said that over the past decade it had more than halved its equity exposure in British and Canadian subsidiaries to 5.2 percent as of September 2015 from 11 percent in March 2010.

Its total equity investment in ICICI Bank UK and ICICI Bank Canada has come from 11 percent of its networth as of March 2010 to 5.2 percent as of September 2015, chief financial officer N S Kannan had told investors and analysts.