State Bank of Travancore has crossed the milestone of Rs 1 lakh crore in business as at the end of the quarter ending December 2010.

Announcing the quarterly results, the Managing Director, Mr P. Pradeep Kumar, stated that the bank has been able to maintain and improve profitability in a challenging scenario.

Net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 176.01 crore, up 6.70 per cent from Rs 164.96 crore a year ago.

Higher provisions for staff (consequent to implementation of wage revision) and for NPAs have combined to moderated growth in net profit, Mr Kumar said.

Operating profit went up 17.89 per cent to Rs 328.68 crore from Rs 278.79 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

Net interest income also went up by 24.77 per cent to Rs 464.15 crore in the same period. Consequently, the net interest margin (NIM) moved up by 11 basis points to 2.93 per cent from 2.82 per cent from year-ago level.

Operating profit for the nine-month period ended December 2010 stood at Rs 860.87 crore, which is 23.94 per cent higher compared with Rs 694.58 crore in the same period the previous year.

The net profit for this period (nine months) stood at Rs 489.41 crore - 4.79 per cent higher compared with to Rs 467.04 crore in the corresponding period the previous year.