Standard Chartered India profit rises 11% despite shrinking loan book

Standard Chartered Bank reported a 11% rise in profit before tax from India in the first half of 2025 despite a shrinking of its loan book mainly as expenses were kept in control. Profit before tax increased to $333 million in the six months ended June 2025 from $299 million in the same period a year ago as operating expenses rose just 0.45% year on year.

Total income increased 6% to $795 million in June 2025 from $753 million in June 2024, half yearly results released by the bank on Thursday showed. Operating expenses remained little changed at $442 million versus $440 million a year ago.

The bank’s loan book in India shrunk 8% to $13.61 billion from $14.79 billion a year ago. Deposits also shrunk to $25.26 billion from $27.26 billion a year ago. Total impairment costs increased 43% to $20 million from $14 million a year ago.


India was the third largest contributor to the bank’s global contributor behind Hong Kong ($1.44 billion) and Singapore ($798 million). This is an improvement from the fifth place the bank occupied behind the US and UAE at the end of 2024.

Globally the bank reported a 26% increase in first-half pretax profit, driven by growth in the bank's wealth and markets businesses. The London-headquartered lender's pretax profit for the first six months of this year hit $4.38 billion, better than the $3.83 billion analysts had forecast. Total income was helped by a $238 million gain on the sale of B2B marketplace Solv India to Jumbotail last month. Solv India was incubated by Standard Chartered Ventures.