Global banking major HSBC on Tuesday reported a 33 per cent jump in profit-before-tax from its India operations to $451 million (about Rs.2,000 crore) in the first half ended June, 2011, making the country its sixth most profit market globally.
“This strong 33 per cent rise in pre-tax profit at $451 million is complemented by good asset quality and strong liquidity. We are optimistic about the India growth story. These numbers make India the sixth most profitable market for us globally,” HSBC India Chief Executive Officer Stuart A Davis told reporters here.
The British lender's domestic unit also reported major improvements in its retail and wealth management verticals, with the losses coming down to $4 million from $49 million in the year-ago period.
Its global banking and markets vertical's revenue rose to $392 million during the first half from $245 million in the year-ago period, while the commercial banking division's revenue doubled to $78 million.
HSBC Asia-Pacific Chief Executive Peter Wong said the bank would lay greater focus on its unsecured lending business, comprising credit cards and personal loans, which were put on the back-burner during the slowdown years.
“In India, although the loan growth is kind of flat, actually what we are trying to do is that we will sort of emphasise on the unsecured portfolio and then increase the secured portfolio,” he told reporters from Hong Kong in a video conference.
Mr. Davis said HSBC's overall assets remained almost flat in comparison to the same period last year, at $6.1 billion, with commercial loans constituting $4 billion, loans against property at $732 million, residential mortgages at $949 million and unsecured loans (the credit card and personal loan businesses) at $446 million during the reporting period.
Rules out large scale job cuts
Meanwhile, HSBC ruled out any significant job cuts in India, a strategic market where it is fighting high attrition rate, a day after the banking major announcing trimming its global workforce by 30,000 Responding to a question on whether job cuts announced by the global management on Monday would apply to India, Mr. Davis said, “I think India already has a high attrition rate. We are hard- pressed to even catch up on the replacements.”
