MUMBAI, July 17(Reuters) - HDFC Bank, India's largest private lender, on Monday reported a bigger-than-expected 30% jump in first-quarter profit, helped by higher net interest income (NII) and strong loan growth.
The lender's standalone net profit was at 119.52 billion rupees ($1.46 billion), up from 91.96 billion rupees a year ago. Analysts had expected a profit of 114.97 billion rupees, as per Refinitiv data.
The standalone numbers do not include the business of the bank's subsidiaries.
The results come weeks after the bank completed a merger with parent Housing Development Finance Corp in a $40 billion deal aimed at tapping rising demand for home loans.
HDFC Bank's net interest income, or core lending income, rose 21.1% to 235.99 billion rupees. Net interest margin was at 4.1%, the bank said in a press release.
The lender saw advances rise 15.8% during the quarter, while deposits rose at a faster pace of 19.2%.
Asset quality was largely stable, with gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio slipping slightly to 1.17% from 1.12% in the prior quarter. The figure stood at 1.28% a year ago.
Provisions and contingencies, or the funds set aside to cover loan losses, slipped 10.3% to 28.6 billion rupees.
Shares of the lender rose as much as 1% after the results.
($1 = 82.1270 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Siddhi Nayak and Chris Thomas; Editing by Varun H K
Source: Reuters