State Bank of India has retained its bullish stance on credit growth, projecting advances to expand 13-15 per cent in FY27 despite risks arising from the ongoing West Asia conflict, chairman C.S. Setty said on Thursday while announcing the lender’s fourth-quarter earnings. India’s largest lender had posted a 16.33 per cent growth in domestic advances during FY26.
“How long this West Asian conflict will continue, and how inflation and demand moderation will play out, subject to all of them, we are sticking to our earlier credit growth estimate of 13-15 per cent for the current year,” Setty said.
SBI also estimated that it could extend up to ₹80,000 crore in loans under the government’s Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0, introduced in view of the geopolitical tensions. Setty, however, indicated that demand under the scheme may remain below expectations.
He said the conflict posed two key downside risks for India’s consumption-driven economy — supply-chain disruptions leading to higher operational costs and rising inflation that could moderate domestic demand and slow credit offtake.
“Assuming inflation remains around 4 per cent, domestic consumption may not be badly impacted. But if it rises further and the war lingers longer, moderation in consumption demand will affect the credit curve,” Setty said.
Profit up, stock down
SBI reported a standalone net profit of ₹19,684 crore in the fourth quarter of FY26, up 5.58 per cent from ₹18,643 crore in the year-ago period. Net interest income rose 4.13 per cent to ₹44,380 crore from ₹42,618 crore a year earlier.
However, non-interest income declined 28.94 per cent from the corresponding year-ago quarter because of treasury losses and forex and derivative losses amid rising bond yields and measures by the Reserve Bank of India to curb rupee volatility.
Domestic net interest margin (NIM) narrowed to 2.93 per cent in Q4FY26 from 3.14 per cent a year ago, while full-year NIM fell to 3.03 per cent from 3.21 per cent in FY25. The decline was attributed to the repricing of repo-linked loans after earlier rate cuts and a higher share of home and MSME loans linked to external benchmarks.
SBI shares closed 6.74 per cent lower on the NSE following the results announcement.
Setty said the bank was maintaining its FY27 NIM guidance at around 3 per cent as further repo rate cuts appeared unlikely. He also said SBI may dilute part of its holding in the National Stock Exchange through the bourse’s proposed IPO.
On concerns surrounding artificial intelligence-led cyber threats, Setty said banks were working closely with the Union government and the RBI to develop a coordinated framework aimed at strengthening cyber resilience across the financial system.
The bank has declared a dividend of ₹17.35 per equity share for FY26.