HDFC Bank on Saturday beat Street estimates to post a 27 per cent growth in its standalone net profit in the September quarter despite a rise in provisions.

Net profits at the private sector lender came in at Rs 6,345 crore compared with Rs 5,006 crore in the corresponding previous period. Analysts were expecting the bank to post net profits of around Rs 6,000 crore.

Provisions, however, rose to Rs 2,701 crore from Rs 1,820 crore in the year-ago period and Rs 2,614 crore in the preceding three months.

HDFC Bank said the provisions included specific loan loss provisions of Rs 2,038 crore and general and other provisions of Rs 663 crore.

The asset quality of the bank was stable on a sequential basis with gross non-performing assets at 1.38 per cent of its gross advances as on September 30, 2019, against 1.40 per cent as on June 30, 2019, and 1.33 per cent as on September 30, 2018.

The bank added that the net non-performing assets were at 0.4 per cent of the net advances as on September 30, 2019.

In absolute terms, the gross NPAs came in at Rs 12,508 crore compared with Rs 11,769 crore in the preceding three months.

The bank’s core net interest income (interest earned less interest expended) for the quarter under review grew to Rs 13,515 crore from Rs 11,763 crore for the September quarter of 2018. HDFC Bank said this was driven by an average asset growth of 15 per cent and a net interest margin for the quarter of 4.2 per cent.

The bank’s other income (non-interest revenue) of Rs 5,589 crore grew 39.2 per cent over Rs 4,016 crore in the same period last year. Here, fees and commissions rose to Rs 4,055 crore from Rs 3,296 crore in the year-ago period.

The lender’s total advances as of September this year stood at Rs 8,96,984 crore, an increase of 19.5 per cent over last year. HDFC Bank added that while domestic retail loans grew 14.7 per cent, wholesale loans rose 27.9 per cent. Total deposits stood at Rs 10,21,615 crore, an increase of almost 23 per cent over last year.

The low-cost CASA (current & saving account) deposits grew 14.7 per cent with savings account deposits at Rs 2,64,445 crore and current account deposits at Rs 1,36,791 crore.