HDFC Bank Q3 net profit rises 33% to Rs 7,416 cr on higher interest income

Private lender HDFC Bank on Saturday reported a 32.8 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 7,416.5 crore for the third quarter ended December 31 driven by interest and non-interest income.

The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 5,585.9 crore in the October-December quarter of the last financial year.

Total income rose to Rs 36,039 crore during the December quarter against Rs 30,811.27 crore in the year-ago period, HDFC Bank said in a statement.

"Net interest income (interest earned less interest expended) for the quarter ended December 31, 2019, grew to Rs 14,172.9 crore from Rs 12,576.8 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, driven by growth in advances of 19.9 per cent, and a growth in deposits of 25.2 per cent," it said.

The net interest margin for the quarter remained stable at 4.2 per cent, it added.

During the quarter, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 1.42 per cent of the total advances, compared with 1.38 per cent at the end of the third quarter of 2018-19.

Net NPAs of the bank too increased to 0.48 per cent of the assets in October-December 2019, against 0.42 per cent a year ago.

As a result, the bank's provisions (other than tax) and contingencies increased to Rs 3,043.56 crore against Rs 2,211,53 crore reported in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. Of this, provision of NPA was Rs 2,883.6 crore alone, it said.

The specific loan loss provisions in the current quarter include one-offs of approximately Rs 700 crore, primarily relating to certain corporate accounts. Therefore, the Core Credit Cost ratio (i.e. excluding one-offs), was 0.92 per cent, as compared to 0.90 per cent in the quarter ending September 30, 2019 and 0.88 per cent in the quarter ending December 31, 2018," it said.

Other incomes of the bank increased to Rs 6,669.3 crore against Rs 4,921.01 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Total balance sheet size as of December 31, 2019 was Rs 13,95,336 crore against Rs 11,68,556 crore as of December 31, 2018.

Total deposits rose by 25.2 per cent to Rs 10,67,433 crore, while total advances grew by 19.9 per cent Rs 936,030 crore.

The lender's total capital adequacy ratio (CAR) as per Basel III guidelines was at 18.5 per cent as on December 31, 2019 17.3 per cent as on December 31, 2018) against a regulatory requirement of 11.075 per cent, which includes a capital conservation buffer of 1.875 per cent, and an additional requirement of 0.20 per cent due to the bank being identified as a Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB).