HDFC on retail trip; net profit up 33.6%

Next fiscal, it will go 'granular' in search of higher margins

- Shayan Ghosh

For India's biggest private sector bank, the road to the future is paved with small loans and deposits.

For the coming fiscal year, HDFC Bank Ltd is building a plan to further raise the share of retail loans in its loanbook, and tap individuals to park more deposits. At present, 54% of its loans are to retail borrowers, including mortgage and non-mortgage categories, while wholesale loans account for the remaining 46%.

"We will need granular deposit funding, and to the extent that we get good funding, there is good credit demand for us to take. We will be able to pick and choose what we want," the bank's chief financial officer (CFO) Srinivasan Vaidyanathan said in a post-earnings call.

On Tuesday, HDFC Bank reported a 33.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in standalone net profit to ₹16,372.5 crore in the December quarter as net interest income showed a healthy increase. This figure handsomely beat estimates by 19 analysts polled by Bloomberg, who expected it to post a net profit of ₹15,762 crore in the quarter. The bank's net interest income the difference between interest earned and interest expended-grew 23.9% y-o-y to ₹28,471.3 crore.