HDFC
Bank delivers yet another steady quarter
Rex
Mathew
18 October 2006
The
"30-per cent bank" has done it yet again!
As for the last many quarters, HDFC Bank has once again
delivered quarterly bottom line growth of around 30
per cent for Q2 06-07. The results are in line with
market expectations.
For
the quarter ended 30 September 2006, net profits of
HDFC Bank has increased by 31.71 per cent to Rs262.94
crore, or Rs8.3 per share, from Rs199.64 crore, or Rs6
per share, for the previous year quarter.
Gross
income increased by a substantial 58.48 per cent to
Rs2,033.37 crore from Rs1,283.05 crore for the same
quarter of previous year. Gross interest income went
up by 59.9 per cent to Rs1,635.66 crore for the quarter
from Rs1,022.9 crore a year ago.
Interest
expended jumped 92.34 per cent to Rs790.06 crore from
Rs410.77 crore. Net interest income (total interest
earned less total interest expended) increased by a
lower 38.14 per cent to Rs845.6 crore from Rs612.13
crore, as a result of the rising cost of funds for the
bank.
Fee-based
income and other income went up by 52.88 per cent to
Rs397.71 crore from Rs260.15 crore for the previous
year quarter. Of this, fee & commissions contributed
Rs314.1 crore, Rs58.2 crore came from foreign exchange
and derivatives while the remaining Rs20.6 crore was
profits from sale of investments.
Operating
profits went up by 41.12 per cent to Rs664.18 crore
from Rs470.64 crore a year ago. Staff costs were higher
by 57.46 per cent at Rs181.33 crore while other operating
expenses went up by 38.86 per cent to Rs397.8 crore.
Provisions
for NPA's and contingencies saw a sharp rise of 69.26
per cent to Rs305.71 crore from Rs180.62 crore for the
previous year quarter. Of this, provisions for standard
and non-performing assets were Rs220.7 crore while Rs57.6
crore was provided for securities in the held-to-maturity
category. Tax provisions went up by 5.7 per cent to
Rs95.53 crore.
The
bank management said average asset growth during the
quarter was around 40 per cent. Core net interest margin
was steady at around 4 per cent – the highest among
Indian banks. Capital adequacy ratio as at the end of
the second quarter stood at 12.1 per cent as compared
to 10.4 per cent a year ago, after the bank raised Rs741
crore by issuing tier-I and tier-II bonds.
Total
customer assets - including advances and investments
in securities issued by corporate - increased 34.2 per
cent to Rs49,326 crore from Rs36,764 crore. Retail loans,
which now form 56 per cent of gross advances, expanded
44.4 per cent to Rs25,211 crore. Non-performing assets
were just 0.4 per cent of total customer assets - one
of the lowest among domestic banks.
