HDFC Bank reports Q4 net profit at ₹16,512 crore
Private lender HDFC Bank’s net profit in fourth quarter (January-March) stood at ₹16,512 crore.
The standalone net profit figure was below analysts’ forecast of ₹17,315 crore according to LSEG data, but above the ₹16,373 crore rupees reported in the previous quarter.
In its fourth quarter result, the private lending giant reported provisions and contingencies at ₹13,510 crore during the quarter, up from ₹4,217 crore in the three months to December as a “countercyclical buffer for making the balance sheet more resilient,” the bank said in a press statement.
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Provisions for the January-March quarter included floating provisions of ₹10,900 crore. As per the statement released by the company, HDFC Bank’s net interest income – the difference between interest earned and paid – rose 2.1% from the previous quarter to ₹29,080 crore.
The bank’s core net interest margin was 3.44% on total assets and 3.63% on interest-earning ones, versus 3.4% and 3.6%, respectively, in the previous quarter and a blended 4.1% in the same quarter last year.
HDFC’s higher borrowing costs and lower-yielding loan book weighed on the merged entity’s margins.
According to a Reuters, report, the analysts had expected the lender to slow loan growth in favour of deposit growth until it restored key ratios to pre-merger levels.
HDFC Bank’s gross loans grew 1.6% sequentially to 25.08 trillion rupees in the latest quarter, slower than in the previous quarter. Deposits grew 7.5% to 23.8 trillion rupees.
The bank’s asset quality remained stable, with a gross non-performing assets ratio of 1.24% at the end of March, compared with 1.26% three months earlier.
HDFC Bank’s shares ended 2.5% higher ahead of the results on Friday.
(With Reuters inputs)
