HDFC Bank net rises 75% to Rs 210.10 cr

Our Banking Bureau

Mumbai, April 14 : HDFC Bank has registered 75 per cent increase in its net-profit to Rs 210.1 crore for fiscal ended March 31, up from Rs 120.04 crore in the last fiscal. Total income rose by 79 per cent to Rs 1,445 crore (Rs 805.2 crore).

The board of directors has recommended an enhanced dividend of 20 per cent for fiscal ended March 31 as against 16 per cent for the previous fiscal. The board has also cleared a proposal to raise the authorised capital of the bank to Rs 400 crore from Rs 350 crore. This will be done either through a domestic offering of shares or overseas listing.
Interest earned stood at Rs 1,259.46 (Rs 679.87 crore). As a result of the balance sheet growth, net interest income increased by 65 per cent to Rs 505.7 crore. Other incomes also grew by a healthy 48 per cent to Rs 185.5 crore. Market sensitive revenues (foreign exchange profits and profit on sale of investments) accounted for only 3.6 per cent of total income, indicating the low degree of volatility in revenues. Operating expenses increased marginally to 21.4 per cent (2000-01) of total income from 21.3 per cent in 1999-00.

Said HDFC Bank’s managing director, Aditya Puri, “With the new product range, technology and customer acquisition momentum, the bank is well positioned to maintain a healthy growth rate and to build market share across multiple business.” Total deposits increased by 38 per cent to Rs 11,658 crore (Rs 8,428 crore). The bank’s focus on providing its retail customers superior products and services at affordable prices continued to bear fruit with savings account deposits increasing by 69 per cent to Rs 1,903 crore (Rs 1,125 crore). NRI deposits increased by 117 per cent to Rs 721 crore (Rs 332 crore). Total advances increased by 34 per cent to Rs 4,637 crore (Rs 3,462 crore). Total customer assets increased to Rs 7,182 crore (Rs 4,710 crore).

Balance sheet size grew by 33 per cent to Rs 15,617 crore (Rs 11,731 crore).

The bank’s net NPAs of specific loan loss provision, interest in suspense and ECGC claims received were 0.45 per cent of advances and 0.29 per cent of total customer assets.

The bank’s networth stood at Rs 913 crore. During the year, the bank issued and alloted unsecured subordinated bonds of Rs 50 crore, qualifying as tier-2 capital. As of March 31, the bank’s total capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at 11.09 per cent against the regulatory minimum of 9 per cent. Of this, tier-1 was 8.7 per cent.

“The healthy growth in both business volumes and profits in a challenging environment reflects the strength and diversity for the bank’s business franchises. In the wholesale banking business, where the bank caters mainly to corporate and institutional customers, growth was achieved through a combination of adding new customers, cross-selling additional products and increasing market share in respect to existing products,” HDFC Bank said.

In the transactional banking business, the bank claimed that it had consolidated its position as one of the leaders in cash-management services with total value of throughputs in excess of Rs 110,000 crore during 2000-01. The bank also maintained its position as the leading provider of cash-settlement services to various leading stock exchanges in the country.

The number of branches increased from 111 to 131 and the size of the bank’s ATM network was enhanced from 111 to 207. Total number of retail accounts increased from 825,000 in March 2000 to over 1.4 million in March 2001. The total retail loan portfolio as of March 31, was Rs 845 crore, of which personal advances and loans secured by shares were Rs 319 crore and car loans were Rs 315 crore. The growth in retail depository participant services business also continued with total number of investor demat accounts to almost 500,000 in March (300,000).