SBI beats Reliance Industries to become India's most profitable company

Public sector lender's quarterly net profit in Q1 at Rs 18,537 crore ahead of RIL's quarterly net profit numbers

The changes in the domestic and global economy following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic are altering the corporate profit league table in India. Reliance Industries (RIL), which topped the India Inc profit chart for more than a decade, lost out to State Bank of India (SBI) in the 2023-24 (FY24) April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1).

India’s biggest lender reported a consolidated net profit (adjusted for exceptional gains and losses) of Rs 66,860 crore during the trailing 12-month (TTM) ended in June this year, ahead of RIL’s TTM adjusted net profit of Rs 64,758 crore in the quarter.

The public sector lender’s quarterly net profit in Q1FY24 at Rs 18,537 crore was also ahead of RIL’s quarterly net profit of Rs 16,011 crore.

This is only the second occasion in the past two decades that SBI has reported a higher net profit on a TTM basis. The previous occasion was the 2011-12 (FY12) July-September quarter when SBI reported a TTM net profit of Rs 18,810 crore against RIL’s consolidated net profit of Rs 18,588 crore.

Historically, RIL has competed with public sector oil and gas majors such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil) for the rank of the country’s most profitable firm.

RIL was last beaten in the profit league table by IndianOil during the TTM ended April-June quarter of 2012-13. Before this, ONGC was ahead of RIL in the profit league until the October-December quarter of FY12.