SBI spent ₹986 crore on printing & stationery in FY25, but IDFC First burnt 8% of profit! How other banks compare

The future of banking may be digital, but it is still heavily written in ink. At a time when financial institutions are pushing customers to tap, scan, and swipe, their financial statements reveal an unexpectedly old-school reality: a multi-crore obsession with pen and paper.

Financial year 2025 cost disclosures by Groww on printing and stationery revealed that large Indian banks spent hundreds of crores on forms, chequebooks, passbooks, statements and other paper-linked requirements.

Here is how much Indian banking giants are actually spending to keep physical records:

How much do Banks spend on Pen & Paper?

“How much do Banks spend on Pen & Paper? (Costs for FY25)” Groww wrote in an X post, sharing a list of top Indian banks and their pen and paper costs for FY25

In sheer volume, banking behemoth State Bank of India (SBI) topped the charts, shelling out a massive ₹986.4 crore on printing and stationery in FY25. Fellow private-sector giant HDFC Bank followed closely behind, recording an expenditure of ₹922.5 crore.

However, while those massive numbers represent less than 1.3% of net profits for the banking titans, mid-sized private lenders felt a far heavier relative pinch:

• ICICI Bank: ₹318.5 crore, 0.58% of profit
• State Bank of India: ₹986.4 crore, 1.22% of profit
• Axis Bank: ₹373.8 crore, 1.33% of profit

Public sector giants like Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, and Union Bank of India all maintained ratios near or below the 1% mark.

The true outlier of the fiscal year emerged among private and mid-tier lenders.

According to data from Groww, IDFC First Bank spent an eye-popping ₹122.7 crore on stationery alone—a sum that accounted for a staggering 8.05% of its net profit for the year.

IndusInd Bank reported a relatively high ratio, with its ₹114.9 crore stationery bill accounting for 4.46% of its net profit. Yes Bank ( ₹70 crore) and AU Small Finance Bank ( ₹58.3 crore) saw these administrative costs consume 2.86% and 2.77% of their bottom lines, respectively.