HDFC Bank on Saturday met Street estimates when it posted a 23 per cent growth in net profits for the quarter ended March 31. The country’s largest private sector lender recorded a net profit of Rs 10,055.18 crore against Rs 8,186.51 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

This growth in its bottomline came on the back of lower provisions even as net interest income (NII) rose by a modest 10.2 per cent.

Provisions fell to Rs 3,312.35 crore, including specific loan loss provisions of Rs 1,778.2 crore and general and other provisions of Rs 1,534.2 crore. Provisions had stood at Rs 4,693.70 crore in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, its NII (interest earned minus interest expended) rose 10.2 per cent to Rs 18,872.7 crore from Rs 17,120.2 crore a year ago.

Asset quality of the lender improved in the fourth quarter as gross non-performing assets declined to 1.17 per cent of gross advances from 1.26 per cent on December 31, 2021 and 1.32 per cent on March 31, 2021. In absolute terms, they stood at Rs 16,140.96 crore against Rs 15,086 crore in the January-March 2021 period.

Advances showed a rise of nearly 21 per cent with the growth coming across products and segments.

Total advances as of March 31, 2022 were Rs 1,368,821 crore against Rs 1,132,837 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

To raise Rs 50,000cr

HDFC Bank on Saturday said it will raise up to Rs 50,000 crore in the next one year by issuing bonds aimed at financing infrastructure and affordable housing loan requirements of the customers. The decision was taken at the meeting of the board of directors.

The lender, which is set to merge its parent company HDFC Ltd with itself, also informed that the board has approved to re-appoint Renu Karnad as non-executive director on the board of the bank for a period of five years with effect from September 3, 2022.

Retail loans

Retail loans grew 15.2 per cent, commercial and rural banking loans showed a rise of 30.4 per cent even as the rise in corporate and other wholesale loans were at 17.4 per cent.

Other income (non-interest revenue) came in at Rs 7,637.1 crore against Rs 7,593.9 crore a year ago.

The bank added 563 branches and 7,167 employees during the quarter and 734 branches and 21,486 employees in 2021-22.

HDFC Bank, which did not announce a dividend along with the results, said its board will meet on April 23 to consider a dividend proposal.

HDFC Bank, which recently announced a reverse merger with parent HDFC added that this, and other investments made during the year, will position it to capitalise on the growth opportunity.

The total deposits as of March 31, 2022 were Rs 1,559,217 crore, an increase of almost 17 per cent over the previous year period. Of this, the low-cost CASA (current & saving accounts) deposits grew by 22 per cent with savings account deposits at Rs 511,739 crore and current account deposits at Rs 239,311 crore. They comprised 48.2 per cent of the total deposits as of March 31, 2022.

HDFC Bank which did not announce a dividend along with the results, said that its board will meet on April 23 to consider a dividend proposal.

During the quarter, its NBFC subsidiary- HDB Financial Services Ltd (HDBFSL) posted net revenues of Rs 2,141.4 crore as against Rs 1,985.3 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, a growth of 7.9 per cent. its profit after tax came in at Rs 427.1 crore compared to Rs 511.8 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2021.