MUMBAI: Housing and Development Finance Corp (HDFC) reported a net profit of Rs 2,862 crore for the January-March quarter, up 27 per cent from the corresponding period last year. Profit before tax for the same period was up 42 per cent year on year at Rs 3,691 crore.
For the financial year ended March, profit before tax was at Rs 13,119 crore, down from Rs 13,190 crore, and profit after tax was down at Rs 9,633 crore compared to Rs 10,959 crore in the previous year. Profits for the full year are not exactly comparable as the company received Rs 5,609 crore on sale of investments compared to Rs 1,212 this year. Last year, in the third quarter, the company sold its stake in HDFC Life Insurance Company through an IPO.
Talking about the loan book, Keki Mistry, Vice Chairman and CEO of HDFC said the focus had been on individual loans and that would remain. The “focus on affordable housing continues unabated,” Mistry added in a television address. For the March quarter, individual loans saw 24 per cent growth, and on an Asset Under Management (AUM) basis it grew 17 per cent, HDFC said.
Of the total loans approved last fiscal, 37 per cent of home loans in volume terms and 18 per cent in value terms have been to customers from economically weaker sections and low-income groups, the company said. Average monthly volumes of approvals in the segment were at Rs 1,406 crore.
Individual loan disbursements grew 15 per cent year on year. At the end of March, individual loans constituted 74 per cent of the AUM. The loan book at the of Fiscal 19 was at Rs 4.06 lakh crore, compared to Rs 3.63 lakh crore in the previous year. “Tight liquidity conditions, over-leverage and credit rating downgrade led to heightened risks across the corporate sector. In order to preserve asset quality, the Corporation opted to be prudent by curtailing some of its lending to non-individual loans”.