HDFC Bank net profit up 30%

HDFC Bank Ltd, India's No.3 lender by loan value, met forecasts with a 30 per cent rise in quarterly profit on Tuesday led by higher loan growth, fee income and stable asset quality.

Mumbai-based HDFC Bank, which has posted profit growth of more than 30 per cent every year for the last decade, said its net profit rose to Rs 1,890 crore (Rs 18.9 billion) in the quarter ended March from about Rs 1,453 crore (Rs 14.53 billion) a year earlier. Net interest income grew about 21 per cent to Rs 4,290 crore (Rs 42.9 billion).

According to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, analysts had expected a net profit of Rs 1,887 crore (Rs 18.87 billion)

for the bank, which is also listed in New York and competes with bigger local rivals State Bank of India and ICICI Bank.

Asset quality, valued by the market at about $31 billion, was stable with net non-performing loans as a percentage of total assets at 0.2 per cent.

The bank's net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, is among the highest in the sector at 4.5 per cent compared with 4.4 per cent a year ago.