HDFC Bank Q1 net up 34%

HDFC Bank and its bigger rivals State Bank of India and ICICI Bank are seeing a pick-up in demand for loans on the back of improving business and consumer confidence in an economy forecast to grow about 8.5 percent in 2010/11.

Analysts said banks’ loan growth in April-June,the fiscal first quarter,was helped by mobile carriers’ scramble to secure funds to pay for 3G spectrum after winning an auction for high-speed radiowaves.

The government has raised $14.3 billion from the auction,nearly double the target.

The central bank sees non-food credit growth of banks at 20 percent in 2010/11,still a far cry from growth rates of above 30 percent in the pre-crisis period.

ICICI Bank,India’s second-largest lender,expects its loans to expand by a fifth in the fiscal year ending March,its chief executive said on Monday,as corporate and retail borrowing rise in a growing economy.

HDFC Bank said its April-June net profit rose to 8.12 billion rupees from 6.06 billion rupees a year ago. A poll of brokerages had projected the quarterly net profit at 8.15 billion rupees.

Shares in HDFC Bank,which the market values at $20 billion,ended 0.6 percent higher at 2,050.35 rupees in the main Mumbai market that ended down 0.2 percent. ($1=47.1 rupees)

HDFC Bank margins will remain in a range

HDFC Bank’s margins will remain in a range,and credit growth will be more than the sector’s 20 percent growth,Paresh Sukthankar,executive director at the Indian lender,told said on Monday.