समाचार Samāchār · Business · 30 October 2026

Bank of Baroda posts its highest quarterly profit as bad loans fall to 1.78%

Net profit rose 35.8% to ₹6,532 crore in July to September. Fee and other income nearly doubled. Advances grew 18.3% and gross NPAs fell to 1.78%.

Bank of Baroda has posted the best quarter in its history. Net profit for July to September rose 35.8% to ₹6,532 crore, from ₹4,809 crore a year ago. The board approved the results on 30 October. PTI and UNI both reported it as the bank’s highest-ever quarterly net profit.

The core grew steadily. The jump came from elsewhere. Net interest income rose 9% to ₹13,026 crore. Non-interest income rose 95.8% to ₹6,881 crore. That lifted operating profit 50.9% to ₹11,430 crore. Provisions also rose, to ₹2,382 crore from ₹1,232 crore. The bank used part of the good quarter to set money aside. That is the prudent choice.

The books are cleaner. Gross NPAs fell to 1.78% from 2.16% a year ago. Net NPAs fell to 0.37%. Provision coverage stands at 94.65%. Capital adequacy is 16.61%, with CET-1 at 14.20%. Return on equity rose to 19.28%. A decade ago public sector banks were the weak link of Indian credit. This is a विजय Vijay for the bank’s management and staff, and for the clean-up work done across the system over many years.

The balance sheet is growing too. Global advances rose 18.3% to ₹15.12 lakh crore. Domestic advances rose 13.5%. Global deposits rose 16.4% to ₹17.45 lakh crore. The half year is a reminder to read one quarter with care. First-half profit was ₹7,810 crore, down 16.5% from a year earlier, after a weak first quarter.

What matters next is where the lending goes. India’s two engines, manufacturing and services, run on credit to small and mid-sized firms. A bank with this much capital has room to back them. The test for the second half is steady core income and loan growth that reaches the MSME floor, not just large corporates and retail.

What a founder takes from it: A state-owned bank with clean books and capital to spare can lend. Founders and MSME owners should press for working capital and term loans now, while banks like this are growing advances at double digits.