Agricultural Bank of China, one of the country's four big state-owned lenders, reported net profit growth of 7.42 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of this year.

The bank raked in 70.75 billion yuan (about 10.69 billion U.S. dollars) in net profit attributable to shareholders in the period, according to its Q1 financial statement.

Its business revenue stood at 205.86 billion yuan, up 5.84 percent year on year.

By the end of March, the bank's non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.41 percent, down 0.02 percentage points from the end of last year. Its provision coverage ratio was 307.5 percent, up 7.77 percentage points from three months ago.

The lender's total assets amounted to 30.89 trillion yuan by the end of March, up 6.26 percent from the end of last year.