HDFC Bank Q4 net up 23% at Rs2,326 cr

HDFC Bank, India's second-largest private sector lender, has reported a 23-per cent year-on-year increase in its fiscal fourth quarter (January-March) net profit, at Rs2,326 crore, on the back of higher other income and lower provisioning.

HDFC Bank said its net interest margin for the final quarter of the 2013-14 financial year stood at 4.4 per cent, a growth of 20 basis points on a sequential basis.

HDFC Bank Ltd, India's third-biggest lender by assets, said its quarterly net profit grew at the slowest pace in a more than a decade, as a weaker economy led to a slowdown in lending.

The Mumbai-based bank reported average asset growth of 20.3 per cent and higher net interest margin.

HDFC Bank said its net interest income, the difference between interest earned and paid out, rose 15.3 per cent to Rs4,952.7 crore in January-March 2013-14.

Net interest margin was strong at 4.4 per cent, a growth of 20 basis points on sequential basis, while other income (including commission, fees, foreign exchange earnings etc) shot up 11 per cent year-on-year to Rs2,001 crore in Q4 2013-14.

Income from fees and commissions was higher at Rs1,521.2 crore in Q4-FY14 against Rs1,382.6 crore in Q4-FY13.

The bank managed to reduce its operating expenses that grew 1.2 per cent on yearly basis (up nearly 10 per cent sequentially) to Rs3,174.72 crore during the quarter.

Asset quality remained stable during the quarter with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) continuing unchanged at 1 per cent compared to December quarter as well as the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Net NPAs were up 10 per cent year-on-ear but were unchanged at 0.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

Gross NPA increased 28 per cent (down 0.94 per cent Q-o-Q) to Rs2,989.3 crore year-on-year while net NPA jumped 75.6 per cent Y-o-Y (up 2.8 per cent sequentially) to Rs820 crore during the quarter.

Restructured loans constituted 0.2 per cent of gross advances as of March 2014.

Provisions and contingencies declined 4.8 per cent year-on-year (down 26.4 per cent Q-o-Q) to Rs286.13 crore in the quarter ended March 2014. HDFC Bank's capital adequacy ratio (as per Basel-III norms) climbed 140 basis points Q-o-Q to 16.1 per cent during the quarter.

For the year ended March 2014, HDFC Bank reported a 27-per cent jump in its consolidated after-tax profit at Rs8,764.51 crore, and an18.2 per cent increase in net interest income to Rs19,109.57 crore, while net interest margin declined 10 basis points to 4.4 per cent in FY14.

As of 31 March 2014, HDFC Bank had 3,403 branches and 11,256 ATMs as against 3,062 branches and 10,743 ATMs on 31 March 2013.