SBI Cards shares plunge up to 6% on asset quality concerns, drop in Q3 new account volume

SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd shares declined up to 6% on Monday after the company reported a 33% decline in new accounts for the October-December quarter.

SBI Cards reported its third-quarter financial results after market hours on Thursday, January 18.

Reacting to the financial numbers, the stock opened sharply down by 6% at ₹715.05 on BSE on Monday. SBI Cards shares later traded at ₹719.90 per share, down 5.26% at 9.25 AM.

SBI Cards reported a 33% decline in new account volume to 1,096,000 in the third quarter against 1,634,000 in the year-ago quarter. The new account volume declined 4% on a sequential basis.

The cards-in-force rose by 16% to 1.85 crore in the December quarter of this fiscal, compared to 1.59 crore in the same period, last fiscal.

SBI Cards also reported a widening of its bad assets as gross non-performing assets rose to 2.64% of gross advances in the December quarter against 2.35% as of March 31, 2023. Net NPAs were at 0.96% in the third quarter against 0.87% as of March 31, 2023.

The company reported an 8% increase in net profit to ₹549 crore in the October-December quarter compared to ₹509.5 crore in the year-ago period.

Its total income from operations rose by around 32% to ₹4,621.7 crore in the December quarter compared to ₹3,507.1 crore in the same quarter of FY23.

Interest income was 29% higher at ₹2,082 crore in Q3 of FY24 compared to ₹1,609 crore in Q3 of FY23. Its finance costs rose by 50% to ₹695 crore in the quarter compared to ₹464 crore a year ago.

SBI Card market share for FY24 card-in-force stood at 18.9%, and the share in spends stood at 18.3%.