The lender on Saturday reported an 18.2 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit at Rs 8,186.5 crore while net interest income was up 12.6 per cent from year-ago level at Rs 17,120.2 crore. CLSA, BoB Caps, Edelweiss, Elara Securities and
have maintained ‘buy’ rating. Shares of HDFC Bank ended down 0.12 per cent at Rs 1,428.45 on Friday.
Elara said the result was a beat on pre-provision operating profit but a miss on profit after tax level as the bank made unexpected contingency provisions of Rs 1,300 crore. “Contingency provisions are precautionary and not towards any specific stress from the second (Covid-19) wave,” said Elara, retaining a ‘buy’ rating on strong growth and asset quality.
CLSA said the bank’s portfolio has remained ‘pandemic proof’. “HDFC Bank needs to be closely watched as corporate deleveraging continues and unsecured growth remains muted especially with the ban on credit card issuances continuing for HDFC Bank,” said CLSA.
