HDFC profit beats estimate in Q4FY23

MUMBAI: Housing Development Finance Corp. posted a 16% rise in fourth quarter profit led by strong demand for home loans as the pandemic eased.

Net income stood at ₹3,700 crore ($484 million) in the three months ended March 31, compared with ₹3,180 crore a year ago. That beat the average estimate of ₹3,320 crore in a Bloomberg survey.

The country’s largest mortgage lender, which is in the process of merging with HDFC Bank, has seen robust demand for home loans led by revival in consumer spending as the intensity of infections from the pandemic eased. After the merger with the country’s second-largest lender, the combined entity will be twice as large as ICICI Bank, the third largest in India.

Total income during the March 2022 quarter increased to ₹12,308.46 crore from ₹11,707.53 crore in the year-ago period, HDFC Ltd said in a regulatory filing.

For the full year 2021-22, the company’s net profit rose to ₹13,742 crore against ₹12,027 crore in 2020-21. On a consolidated basis, the net profit during Q4 FY22 surged 21.6% to ₹6,892 crore, against ₹5,669 crore in Q4 FY21. Income during the quarter on a consolidated basis, however, fell to ₹35,060 crore from ₹35,754 crore a year ago.

The company’s board has also recommended a dividend of ₹30 per equity share for FY22, HDFC said. The dividend payout ratio is 40%. In FY22, individual approvals and disbursements grew by 38% and 37%, respectively, compared to the preceding fiscal.

“In the month of March 2022, the Corporation recorded its highest monthly individual disbursements ever. This is despite the fact that the previous year entailed concessional stamp duty benefits in certain states, which were not there in the current year,” it said.