<p>The Mumbai-headquartered bank was also able to widen its net interest margin (NIM) to 3.61 per cent from the 2.94 per cent in the corresponding period last year in spite of difficult market conditions arising from a prolonged period of rate hikes.<br /><br />This was made possible by repricing of the loan-book, higher yields on advances at 12.31 per cent and containing the rate hike impact on cost of deposits which grew marginally to 6.17 per cent, the bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive, Romesh Sobti, told reporters here today.<br /><br />The bank's NIMs will continue to expand in a sustained manner for "eight to ten quarters", he added.<br /><br />In October-December 2010, the bank's net interest income grew 53 per cent to Rs 237.70-crore while the core fee income, which comprises of income from forex operations, investment banking and distribution, was up 54 per cent at Rs 111.29-crore.<br /><br />The share of the cheaper CASA (current and savings account) deposits also grew to 26.79 per cent during the quarter from 22.54 per cent, helping the NIMs.<br /><br />Advances were up 31 per cent with those to corporates growing 28 per cent and consumer finance like vehicle loans being up by 36 per cent. <br /><br />Going forward, IndusInd Bank aims to increase the retail or consumer finance's share in its loan-book by three percentage points to 45 per cent, Sobti said.<br /><br />On the corporate side, there will be some pressure on demand from the infrastructure sector if the high interest rate environment continues for long, Sobti warned, adding presently there was a good demand for both working capital as well as capacity-building needs.<br /><br />The bank's net non-performing assets during the reporting period came down to 0.36 per cent from 0.67 per cent in the year-ago period while its total capital adequacy also improved to 15.61 per cent from 13.84 per cent.<br /><br />The bank is targeting an annual credit growth of 25-30 per cent for FY 11. Asked about deposit growth, Sobti refrained from giving a number, saying it will be such that the credit deposit (CD) ratio does not exceed 80 per cent.<br /><br />IndusInd Bank's deposit growth for the first 9-months of FY 11 stood at 24 per cent, it said in a release.<br /><br />In order to further augment its income from retail financing, the bank will be getting into the credit cards business in the next 6-8 months while it has already launched a loans-against-property vertical, he said. <br /><br />IndusInd Bank, whose branch network has increased from 210 to 258 in the first nine-months of FY 11, will achieve its target of having 300 branches by March 2011, Sobti said.<br /><br />The bank, which was mulling a name change, will not be considering the same in the near future as a special study undertaken for the purpose has said that it is not "appropriate time" to do so, he said.<br /><br />The bank is adequately capitalised and is not looking at any fresh fund-raising, Sobti said.<br /><br />The bank's total exposure to the microfinance sector is only one per cent of its total loan-book while it has no exposure to the fresh 2G license allottees, he said.<br />The lender's provisioning coverage stands at 70.27 per cent, he said.</p>
<p>The Mumbai-headquartered bank was also able to widen its net interest margin (NIM) to 3.61 per cent from the 2.94 per cent in the corresponding period last year in spite of difficult market conditions arising from a prolonged period of rate hikes.<br /><br />This was made possible by repricing of the loan-book, higher yields on advances at 12.31 per cent and containing the rate hike impact on cost of deposits which grew marginally to 6.17 per cent, the bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive, Romesh Sobti, told reporters here today.<br /><br />The bank's NIMs will continue to expand in a sustained manner for "eight to ten quarters", he added.<br /><br />In October-December 2010, the bank's net interest income grew 53 per cent to Rs 237.70-crore while the core fee income, which comprises of income from forex operations, investment banking and distribution, was up 54 per cent at Rs 111.29-crore.<br /><br />The share of the cheaper CASA (current and savings account) deposits also grew to 26.79 per cent during the quarter from 22.54 per cent, helping the NIMs.<br /><br />Advances were up 31 per cent with those to corporates growing 28 per cent and consumer finance like vehicle loans being up by 36 per cent. <br /><br />Going forward, IndusInd Bank aims to increase the retail or consumer finance's share in its loan-book by three percentage points to 45 per cent, Sobti said.<br /><br />On the corporate side, there will be some pressure on demand from the infrastructure sector if the high interest rate environment continues for long, Sobti warned, adding presently there was a good demand for both working capital as well as capacity-building needs.<br /><br />The bank's net non-performing assets during the reporting period came down to 0.36 per cent from 0.67 per cent in the year-ago period while its total capital adequacy also improved to 15.61 per cent from 13.84 per cent.<br /><br />The bank is targeting an annual credit growth of 25-30 per cent for FY 11. Asked about deposit growth, Sobti refrained from giving a number, saying it will be such that the credit deposit (CD) ratio does not exceed 80 per cent.<br /><br />IndusInd Bank's deposit growth for the first 9-months of FY 11 stood at 24 per cent, it said in a release.<br /><br />In order to further augment its income from retail financing, the bank will be getting into the credit cards business in the next 6-8 months while it has already launched a loans-against-property vertical, he said. <br /><br />IndusInd Bank, whose branch network has increased from 210 to 258 in the first nine-months of FY 11, will achieve its target of having 300 branches by March 2011, Sobti said.<br /><br />The bank, which was mulling a name change, will not be considering the same in the near future as a special study undertaken for the purpose has said that it is not "appropriate time" to do so, he said.<br /><br />The bank is adequately capitalised and is not looking at any fresh fund-raising, Sobti said.<br /><br />The bank's total exposure to the microfinance sector is only one per cent of its total loan-book while it has no exposure to the fresh 2G license allottees, he said.<br />The lender's provisioning coverage stands at 70.27 per cent, he said.</p>