HDFC Bank Q4 Updates: Deposits Rise By Rs 1.66 Lakh Crore

Private lender HDFC Bank Ltd. added Rs 1.66 lakh crore worth of deposits in the January-March quarter, led by growth in wholesale deposits.

Deposits grew 7.5% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 23.8 lakh crore in the quarter ended March 31, according to an exchange filing on Thursday.

The figures are provisional in nature and not comparable year-on-year, as HDFC Bank concluded the merger with Housing Development Finance Corp. in July 2023.

Wholesale deposits grew 10.9% quarter-on-quarter, while retail deposits grew only around 6.9% sequentially during the quarter, the filing said.

This comes after Srinivasan Vaidyanathan, chief financial officer at HDFC Bank, said in a post-Q3 earnings call that the bank was focusing more on retail deposit growth and has been bringing down high-cost deposits.

"We have focused on retail deposit growth now. Saw Rs 530 billion (Rs 53,000 crore) during the quarter, while non-retail book reduced," he said in the call. The bank's non-retail deposits fell by Rs 11,800 crore in the third quarter.

Gross advances in the fourth quarter rose 1.6% sequentially to Rs 25 lakh crore, according to the exchange filing.

Domestic retail loans increased by 3.7% sequentially to Rs 43,700 crore; commercial and rural banking increased by 4.2% QoQ to Rs 32,300 crore; and corporate loans decreased by 2.2% sequentially to Rs 9,800 crore.

The lender's CASA deposits grew 8.8% to Rs 9.09 lakh crore for the quarter ended March 31. The CASA ratio stood at 38.2%, compared to 37.7% quarter-on-quarter.

NDTV Profit previously reported that the private lender is looking to sell some assets on its loan book in order to release high cost borrowings.

This is because the lender wanted to bring down the cost ratio on its balance sheet, while also reducing the credit-deposit ratio.

Shares of HDFC Bank were up 2.8% to Rs 1,524 apiece as of 9:24 a.m., compared with 0.16% gains in the benchmark Nifty 50.