SBI Card Q2 Results, October 23, 2026: Profit Jumps 75% to ₹778 Crore

The SBI Card Q2 results are a story about lower losses, not faster growth. SBI Cards and Payment Services reported a profit after tax of ₹778 crore for the September 2026 quarter, up 75% from ₹445 crore a year ago, according to the press release the company filed with NSE on October 23, 2026. Almost all of that jump came from a much smaller bill for bad loans.

SBI Card Q2 results: the headline numbers

Total income rose just 3% year on year to ₹5,302 crore, against ₹5,136 crore in Q2 FY26. Inside that, interest income barely moved, up 1% to ₹2,511 crore. Fees and other income did better, rising 6% to ₹2,630 crore.

Costs went the other way. Finance costs climbed 4% to ₹787 crore, which the company put down to a higher cost of borrowings, and operating costs rose 7% to ₹2,649 crore. Put those together and earnings before credit costs actually slipped 1% to ₹1,865 crore from ₹1,892 crore.

So how does a 1% dip at that level turn into a 75% profit jump? Impairment losses and bad-debt expenses fell 37% to ₹819 crore from ₹1,293 crore a year earlier. Profit before tax rose 74% to ₹1,046 crore.

On a sequential basis the trend holds. Compared with Q1 FY27, profit after tax rose 17% from ₹664 crore, and credit costs fell 14% from ₹948 crore, per the summary table in the same filing.

Asset quality is clearly better

This is the part bulls will point to. Gross NPAs came in at 1.90% of gross advances at the end of September 2026, down from 2.85% a year earlier. Net NPAs fell to 0.77% from 1.29%.

Returns improved with it. Return on average assets was 4.4% in the quarter versus 2.6% a year ago, and return on average equity was 18.4% versus 12.1%. Capital adequacy stood at 26.5% (22.5% a year ago), with Tier 1 capital at 21.2% (17.5% a year ago), comfortably above the RBI floors of 15% and 10% that the company cites for its category.

Growth is the weak spot

We’d look harder at the business lines. Spends grew only 3% to ₹1,10,689 crore. Receivables, the loan book that actually earns interest, shrank 2% year on year to ₹58,376 crore. Cards-in-force grew 8% to 2.32 crore, and new accounts rose to 1,106K from 936K, so the card base is expanding faster than usage and borrowing on those cards.

Market share moved in two directions. Citing RBI data till August 2026, the company put its share of cards-in-force at 18.5%, down from 19.0%, while its share of spends rose to 18.2% from 17.7%. It says it ranks second in the industry on both.

The balance sheet grew to ₹71,102 crore from ₹66,328 crore at the end of March 2026, and net loans rose to ₹56,532 crore from ₹54,984 crore over those six months.

What it means for investors

A credit card lender earns money in two ways: interest on revolving balances and fees on spends. Right now neither is growing much. The profit recovery rests on borrowers defaulting less, which is real and welcome after a rough stretch, but credit costs can’t keep falling 37% a year forever. Once they level off, profit growth will have to come from spends and receivables picking up again.

For anyone tracking the stock, the next few quarters’ receivables growth and fee income will say more than this quarter’s headline. Readers new to reading results can use our guide on how to analyse quarterly results of a company, and compare this with another lender’s numbers from the same day in our Bank of India Q2 results post. RBI’s own card data is published on the Reserve Bank of India website.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and education only and is not investment advice. Please do your own research or consult a SEBI-registered adviser before making any investment decision.