HDFC Q3 net rises 11.5 pct on higher loan growth

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC), India's top mortgage lender, posted an 11.5 percent gain in quarterly net profit, in line with estimates, aided by higher loan growth.

Net profit rose to 14.25 billion rupees ($232 million) in the October-December quarter from a year earlier, HDFC said on Thursday. Analysts were expecting a net profit of 14.27 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Income from operations increased 13 percent in the fiscal third quarter to 67.58 billion rupees, the company said in a statement to the stock exchange.

HDFC said its loan book grew about 14 percent to 2.2 trillion rupees at the end of December 2014 and its non-performing loans fell to 0.69 percent of the loan portfolio compared with 0.77 percent a year earlier.

Net interest margin, a key measure of profitability, fell to 3.93 percent for the nine months ended December, compared with 3.99 percent from a year earlier, HDFC CEO Keki Mistry said in a TV interview.

($1 = 61.4500 rupees)

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)