HDFC Bank met Street estimates when it posted an 18 per cent growth in net profits for the quarter ended December 31, 2021. The country’s largest private sector lender reported a net profit of Rs 10,342.20 crore against Rs 8758.29 crore in the same period of the previous year.

Analysts were expecting the bank to post a profit of around Rs 10,100 crore. The bank gained from a 16.5 per cent growth in advances, even as provisions declined and asset quality improved on a sequential basis.

The bank reported a gross NPA (non-performing assets) ratio of 1.26 per cent against 1.35 per cent in the preceding three months. In value terms, the gross NPAs came in at Rs 16,013.55 crore compared with Rs 16,346.07 crore in the July-September period.

Provisions declined to Rs 2,993.98 crore from Rs 3,414.13 crore a year ago period and Rs 3,924.66 crore in the prior quarter.

The period saw HDFC Bank’s core net interest income (interest earned less interest expended) rising 13 per cent. It stood at Rs 18,443.5 crore from Rs 16,317.6 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2020.

The private sector bank added that advances grew at 16.5 per cent reaching new heights driven through relationship management, digital offering and breadth of products. Its other income (non-interest revenue) stood at Rs 8,183.6 crore and grew by 9.9 per cent over Rs 7,443.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

HDFC Bank disclosed that during the period, it restructured retail loans worth Rs 14,564.32 crore under the Reserve Bank of India’s second resolution framework. While the business loans that were restructured stood at Rs 1566.32 crore, loans worth Rs 1889.21 crore from small businesses were recast.

Within advances, retail loans showed a growth of 13.3 per cent during the quarter, which was higher than the 12.9 per cent shown in the July-September 2021 period. On the other hand, commercial and rural banking (CRB) loans grew by 29.4 per cent while corporate and other wholesale loans rose by 7.5 per cent.

On the liabilities front, total deposits as of December 31, 2021 were at Rs 1,445,918 crore, an increase of 13.8 per cent over December 31, 2020. Here, the low-cost CASA deposits grew by 24.6 per cent with savings account deposits at Rs 471,029 crore and current account deposits at Rs 210,195 crore. These deposits comprised 47.1 per cent of the total deposits as of December 31, 2021.

Its total Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) was at 19.5 per cent at the end of the third quarter, (18.9 per cent in the previous year) as against a regulatory requirement of 11.7 per cent which includes Capital Conservation Buffer of 2.5 per cent, and an additional requirement of 0.2 per cent on account of the bank being identified as a Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB).