The country's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank on Saturday reported a 23% jump in standalone net profit to ₹10,055.20 crore for the March quarter, led by growth in loan demand across categories and lower provisioning as bad loans were trimmed.
The bank's net profit during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal stood at ₹8,186.51 crore.
"After providing ₹2,989.5 crore for taxation, the bank earned a net profit of ₹10,055.20 crore, an increase of 22.8% over the quarter ended March 31, 2021," HDFC Bank said in a regulatory filing.
Total income of the bank on a standalone basis rose by more than 8% to ₹41,085.78 crore in the January-March period of 2021-22, as against ₹38,017.50 crore in the same quarter of 2020-21.
"Advances were up 20.8%, with the growth coming across products and segments. We continued to add new liability relationships at a robust pace of 2.4 million (24 lakh) during the quarter," the lender said in a release.
The Mumbai-based bank witnessed an increase of 20.8% in its total advances from the year-earlier period to ₹13,68,821 crore, as of March 31, 2022.
Retail loans grew by 15.2%, commercial and rural banking loans by 30.4% and corporate and other wholesale loans by 17.4%, it said. Overseas advances constituted 3.1% of the total advances.
Its net revenues (net interest income plus other income) increased by 7.3% to ₹26,509.80 crore for the quarter, from ₹24,714.10 crore.
The net interest income (interest earned minus interest expended) grew by 10.2% from the year-earlier period to ₹18,872.70 crore.
The bank said its non-interest income was almost 29% of its net revenues at ₹7,637.10 crore.
HDFC Bank added 563 branches and 7,167 employees during the quarter, and 734 branches and 21,486 employees during the year.
"This, and other investments made during the year, will position the bank to capitalise on the growth opportunity," it added.
On the asset quality front, the bank said the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) were at 1.17% of the gross advances as on March 31, 2022, compared with 1.26% earlier.
Net NPAs (or bad loans) stood at 0.32% of the net advances, as against 0.40%.
Provisions and contingencies for the quarter ended March 2022 were at ₹3,312.40 crore (consisting of specific loan loss provisions of ₹1,778.20 crore and general and other provisions of ₹1,534.20 crore). Total provisions were at ₹4,693.70 crore in the year-earlier quarter.
For the full year ended March 31, 2022, total income (standalone) rose to ₹1,57,263 crore from ₹1,46,063.10 crore in the previous fiscal. The net profit rose by 18.8% to ₹36,961.30 crore in 2021-22.
On a consoldiated basis, net profit in the last quarter of FY22 was ₹10,443 crore, up by 23.8%. For the full year, the consolidated net profit climbed 19.5% to ₹38,053 crore.
Total deposits at March-end 2022 stood at ₹15,59,217 crore, up by 16.8%.
HDFC Bank further said its total capital adequacy ratio (CAR) at 18.9% was higher than the regulatory requirement of 11.7%.
In a separate stock exchange filing, the bank said its board of directors will meet on April 23 to consider a proposal for recommendation of dividend for 2021-22.
In a surprise announcement last week, the bank said its parent company HDFC Ltd. will be merged into HDFC Bank in about 18 months and the combined balance sheet will reach ₹17.87 lakh crore.
HDFC Ltd — the country's largest mortgage lender — has total assets under management of ₹5.26 lakh crore with a market capitalisation of ₹4.44 lakh crore, while HDFC Bank is the largest private sector lender by assets size with a market capitalisation of ₹8.35 lakh crore.
Under the proposed merger deal, shareholders of HDFC Ltd. will receive 42 shares of HDFC Bank (face value ₹1 each) for 25 shares of HDFC Ltd. (face value ₹2 each).
Also, the subsidiary/associates of HDFC Ltd. will come under the bank post the amalgamation process.
HDFC Bank had said the merger is the logical next step as scale, growth track record and profitability of both organisations have strengthened over the last two decades.
"Regulatory convergence and market developments over time have improved the risk-reward equation," it added.
