Mortgage major HDFC said on Tuesday that it has posted a 23 per cent surge in net profit to Rs. 1,142 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31 on a standalone basis. The net profit for the year-ago period stood at Rs. 926 crore. For the twelve months ended March 31, 2011, its net profit stood at Rs. 3,535 crore, up 25 per cent.
The core net interest income (NII) of the lender grew 17 per cent during the Q4 period to Rs. 1,511 crore as compared to the same period last year. It recorded a 24 per cent growth in the gross loan book during the year with the individual segment showing higher growth numbers, HDFC Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Keki Mistry told reporters here.
For 2011-12, he said the private mortgage lender is confident of achieving a loan growth of 20 per cent.
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The net interest margin (NIM) widened to 4.39 per cent during the quarter versus the year before period's 4.27 per cent as HDFC has been able to pass the burden of repeated rate hikes to the borrowers, Mr. Mistry said.
The average size of new loans increased to Rs. 18.60 lakh for the year, while individual loans constituted for 67 per cent of the loan book.
HDFC also witnessed a marginal fall in commercial real estate exposure which is at around 12 per cent, Mr. Mistry said.
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HDFC will be raising its lending rates by end of this week or early next week after the RBI hiked it key short-term rates by 50 basis points on May 3, he said.