IndusInd Bank net jumps 130% to Rs 78 crore

Aided by strong growth across its core and non-core businesses, IndusInd Bank registered a 130 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 77.82 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 33.6 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Net interest income (NII) was Rs 208.55 crore as compared to Rs 105.24 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, registering a growth of 98 per cent.

Non-interest income grew 49 per cent in the quarter on a year-on-year basis to Rs 89 crore. Most of this growth was contributed by income from distribution of mutual fund and insurance products, forex sales and investment banking.

Trading gains, which at Rs 86 crore were a major growth driver in the first quarter, fell to Rs 9 crore in the September quarter due to the hardening of yields on government bonds, according to Romesh Sobti, managing director and chief executive officer of IndusInd Bank.

The bank continued to improve its margins in the quarter with net interest margin (NIM) rising to 2.8 per cent compared to 2.6 per cent in the June quarter and 1.68 per cent in the quarter ended September 30, 2008.

The lender further improved its asset quality with net non-performing assets (NPAs) as a proportion of net advances falling from 1.01 per cent at the end of the June quarter to 0.98 per cent in the September quarter.

According to Sobti, vehicle finance, which accounts for a large chunk of the lender's retail portfolio, has started picking up after a long stagnant phase. Disbursals have now picked up to Rs 480 crore a month, from a low of Rs 230-240 crore in December last year.

The lender's performance on the liabilities side was also satisfactory with the proportion of the low-cost Current account, Savings account (CASA) deposits increasing to 21.22 per cent of its total deposits from 17.94 per cent in the year-ago period.

The stock market responded positively to the IndusInd Bank results with the scrip rising 5.35 per cent on the Bombay Sotck Exchange to end the day at Rs 124.