FPJ News Service Mumbai

India’s largest private sector lender HDFC Bank on Wednesday announced a 2.2 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 16,736 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2024 as against Rs 16,373 crore reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.

During the period under review, the total income on a standalone basis rose to Rs 87,460 crore as against Rs 81,720 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.

On a consolidated basis, the bank’s profit witnessed a slight improvement to Rs 17,657 crore from Rs 17,258 crore. The consolidated total income declined to Rs 1,12,194 crore from Rs 1,15,016 crore at the end of the October-November quarter of the previous year.

On the asset quality front, the bank's gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) were 1.42 per cent of gross loans by the end of December 2024 as compared to 1.26 per cent a year ago. Net bad loans rose to 0.46 per cent compared to 0.31 per cent in 2023. 

Its core net interest income grew by 7.7 per cent to Rs 30,650 crore on the back of the net interest margin being stable on-year at 3.43 per cent and the bank's loan growth coming at 6.6 per cent.

The non-interest income was up 2.8 per cent at Rs 11,450 crore on a good growth in core fees and commissions line. The net interest margin, which has been the subject of investor concerns since the bank merged its home finance parent HDFC with itself, has been fairly stable and has seen an upward bias as well, chief financial officer Srinivasan Vaidyanathan said.

He said the bank has been deliberately slowing down on the loan growth and the ongoing period of a slowdown in the system's credit growth has helped it to strengthen the balance sheet by bringing down the credit-deposit ratio, which will help it grow faster when the macro cycle turns for the better. It will take two more years to reduce the CD ratio to the aspirational level of being below 90 per cent levels, which is probably one year earlier than what was earlier guided, the CFO said.