StanChart profit down 10% to $395 million

British lender Standard Chartered Bank today reported a 10% dip in its operating profit from the country at $395 million for the first six months of 2014.

The bank, which is listed on the Indian bourses through Indian Depository Receipts, had registered an operating profit of $439 million for the corresponding January-June period last year.

Its operating income dipped to $759 million, down from the year ago period's $908 million.

However, a bank official said there were two one-offs in the last year's top line coming from exit from a bond portfolio and a private equity realisation, which had pushed up the number.

The client income dipped to $704 million for the first half of 2014 as against $740 million for the year ago period, data reported by it at the group level said.

The bank official, however, pointed out that there has been a 8% drag in the numbers during the reporting period due to the rupee depreciation.

"After taking out the impact from the rupee depreciation by going for a constant currency basis and the two one-offs from last year, the operating income is up 1% while the operating profit is up in the high double digits," the official said, refusing to give the exact numbers.

The growth in the bottomline has been possible due to an improvement in the loan impairment.

The loan impairments halved to $56 million from the year ago's $113 million, while the operating expenses in the country were at $356 million as against the year ago's $328 million.

Going by geographies, the country continues to be the third most profitable market for the bank after Hong Kong and Singapore, and is followed by UAE, China, UK and Korea.

The bank's IDR dipped 0.85% to close at Rs 116 a piece on the BSE at the end of trade, with the broader benchmark correcting by 0.94%.