HDFC Bank on Saturday reported an 18.4% increase in its net profit to Rs 7,513.1 crore for the second quarter ended on September 30.

The country’s largest private lender said its net profit in the corresponding quarter a year ago was Rs 6,345 crore.

“Profit before tax (PBT) for the quarter ended on September 30, 2020 was at Rs 10,110.3 crore.

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Total balance sheet size as of September 30, 2020 was Rs 1,609,428 crore as against Rs 1,325,072 crore as of September 30, 2019, a growth of 21.5%,” the bank said in a statement.

The bank’s net revenues grew to Rs 21,868.8 crore for the quarter ended on September 30, 2020 from Rs 19,103.8 for the quarter ended on September 30, 2019, it said.

“Net interest income (interest earned less interest expended) for the quarter ended on September 30, 2020 grew by 16.7% to Rs 15,776.4 crore from Rs 13,515.0 crore for the quarter ended on September 30, 2019, driven by asset growth of 21.5%, and a core net interest margin for the quarter of 4.1%,” the bank stated.

Total deposits as of September 30, 2020 were Rs 1,229,310 crore, an increase of 20.3% over September 30, 2019.

“CASA deposits grew by 27.5% with savings account deposits at Rs 348,432 crore and current account deposits at Rs 163,019 crore. Net profit for the half year ended September 30, 2020 was Rs 14,171.7 crore, up by 19.0% over the corresponding half year ended September 30, 2019,” it said.

While the previous quarter largely bore the brunt of the COVID19 pandemic, some of the softness continued into the current quarter leading to lower retail loan origination, use of debit and credit cards by customers, efficiency in collection efforts and waivers of certain fees. As a result, fees/other income were lower by approximately Rs 800 crore.

However, the loan and card momentum has improved over the previous quarter, thereby reducing the gap to less than half.

As of September 30, 2020, the bank’s distribution network was at 5,430 branches and 15,292 ATMs / Cash Deposit & Withdrawal Machines (CDMs) across 2,848 cities / towns as against 5,133 branches and 13,952 ATMs / CDMs across 2,768 cities / towns as of September 30, 2019.

“50% of our branches are in semi-urban and rural areas. In addition, we have 12,141 business correspondents, of which 99% are manned by Common Service Centres (CSC) as against 181 business correspondents as of September 30, 2019,” the bank said.

The number of employees was at 117,082 as of September 30, 2020 as against 111,208 as of September 30, 2019, the bank further said.