The Islamic Banking Industry continued to show impressive gains as its overall assets and deposits achieved year-on-year growth of 30.6 percent and 28.4 percent, respectively, shared State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its quarterly report.

According to 24News HD TV channel, assets of the Islamic Banking Industry increased by Rs120 billion during the quarter of January to March 2021 and amounted to Rs4,390 billion by the end of March 31, 2021. The deposits also saw a quarterly growth from Rs2690 billion to Rs3460 billion. The industry has been growing continuously over the years depicting the sizeable market share it has acquired in the overall banking industry.

According to the report, the market share of Islamic banking assets and deposits in the overall banking industry was recorded at 17.0 percent and 18.7 percent, respectively.

During the period under review, 48 branches were added to the branch network, taking the overall number to 3,504 branches (spread across 124 districts of the country) by the end of March, 2021.

The ratios of ‘capital to total assets and ‘capital minus net NPAs to total assets’ were registered at 6.2 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively, by end-March, 2021.

The profit before tax was recorded at Rs 21.3 billion by the end of March, 2021 compared to Rs20.6 billion in the same quarter last year. Operating expense to gross income was registered at 51.5 percent by end-March, 2021 compared to 47.5 percent in the previous quarter.

Reporter: Ashraf Khan