HDFC Bank, a leading private sector lender, has announced robust financial results for the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2024. The bank reported a substantial 37.1% surge in net profit, reaching Rs 16,512 crore compared to Rs 12,047 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The impressive performance was buoyed by a remarkable 24.5% increase in Net Interest Income (NII), which soared to Rs 29,080 crore. Core net interest margins stood strong at 3.44% on total assets and 3.63% on interest-earning assets.
The operating expenditures for the quarter ended 31st March 2024, included a Rs 1,500 crore personnel ex-gratia provision.
Non-interest income for the quarter more than quadrupled to Rs 18,166 crore from Rs 8,731 crore in the previous quarter ended March 31, 2023. The increase in other income is mostly due to a trading and mark-to-market gain of Rs 7,950 crore, compared to a loss of Rs 40 crore during the same period last year. In Q4, HDFC Bank sold a controlling stake in its education finance business, HDFC Credila, for Rs 9,553 crore.
“The credit environment in the economy remains benign, and the Bank’s credit performance across all segments continues to remain healthy,” the private sector lender said in a press release.
“The Bank has considered this as an opportune stage to enhance its floating provisions, which are not specific to any portfolio, but act as a countercyclical buffer for making the balance sheet more resilient, and these also qualify as Tier-II Capital within the regulatory limits,” it said.
“Our book across all segments are performing healthy. It is an opportune stage, when everything is benign, you think about countercyclical buffers,” said Srinivasan Vaidyanathan chief financial officer of the reason for floating provision.
Total deposits of the bank increased 26.4 per cent year on year with current and savings account deposits growing by 8.7 per cent. Casa deposits were 38.2 per cent of total deposits. In absolute terms deposits grew by Rs 1.66 trillion in Jan-March period of which retail deposits were Rs 1.29 trillion.
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Gross advances rise by 55.4 per cent YoY. In absolute terms, deposits increased by Rs 1.66 trillion during January-March, with retail deposits totaling Rs 1.29 trillion. Retail loans increased by 108.9 per cent, commercial and rural banking loans by 24.6 per cent, and corporate and other wholesale loans (excluding HDFC Ltd‘s non-individual loans) by 4.2 per cent.
