HDFC Bank net up 30% again but bad loans rise marginally

HDFC Bank posted on Wednesday a 30 percent rise in first-quarter net profits, in line with expectations, boosted by higher fee income and credit growth.

The Mumbai-based lender, India's third largest in terms of assets, has posted profit growth of more than 30 percent every quarter for the last decade.

Net profit rose to Rs 1840 crore in the quarter ended June from about Rs 1417 crore a year earlier. Net interest income grew nearly 21 percent to 44.16 billion rupees.

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According to Thomson Reuters, analysts had expected a net profit of Rs 1846 crore for the bank. HDFC competes with bigger local rivals like State Bank of India and ICICI Bank.

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Asset quality, valued by the market at about $27 billion, worsened slightly, with net nonperforming loans as a percentage of total assets at 0.3 percent compared with 0.2 percent a year ago.Gross non performing assets remained unchanged quarter on quarter at 1 percent.

The bank's net interest margins, however, remained flat at 4.6 percent, while net interest incomerose 26.8 percento Rs 4419 crore against Rs 3484 crore (YoY).

HDFC Bank's conservative lending strategies have helped it maintain consistently strong growth and outperform local peers struggling with an increase in bad loans.

The Bank's total Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) (computed as per Basel III guidelines) stood at 15.5% for the first quarter of FY14 as against a regulatory requirement of 9%.

Bank's distribution network also grew to 3,119 branches and 11,088 ATMs in 1,891 cities at the end of the June quarter.

With inputs from Reuters