HDFC BANK NET RISES 20% TO ` 3,374 CR ON LOAN GROWTH

MUMBAI: HDFC Bank said on Friday it was seeing growth in lending to companies as India’s second-biggest private sector lender by assets reported a 20% rise in net profit to ` 3,374 crore during the January-Marchquarter of 2015-16 against the same period of the previous fiscal. The profit was driven by healthy interest and fee income and robust loan growth.

Net interest income — the difference between interest earned on loans and that paid on deposits — grew 24% to ` 7,453 crore during the quarter under review from ` 6,013 crore a year ago. Other income was up 12% on the back of a 40% growth in fee income.

While working capital requirements and medium-term loans were the main drivers of corporate credit growth for the bank, it was also seeing some growth for term loans, said Paresh Sukthankar, deputy MD. “We have gained marketshare in the wholesale (corporate) business and added new customers. In retail, almost every product showed good growth.”

The bank’s loan book continued to show strong growth at 27% due to healthy growth in retail (29.7%) and corporate loans (27%). Deposits also grew 21% against the industry average of 9.7%.

On the asset quality front, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose 0.94% of gross advances as on March 2016 compared to 0.93% on March 2015. Net NPAs also moved up marginally to 0.28% from 0.25% of net advances.

Provisions, or the amount set aside for potential bad loans, during the fourth quarter stood at ` 662.5 crore, up 15% from ` 576.7 crore in the year-ago period.

For the full fiscal year 2015-16, HDFC Bank’s net profit stood at ` 12,296 crore, up 20% from the same period last year.