HDFC Bank moves past loan-to-deposit target, pivots to growth—but past glory remains distant
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.HDFC Bank management’s focus has shifted from bringing down the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) to pursuing credit growth opportunities. In its March quarter (Q4FY26) earnings call, the management stated that LDR is not a constraint, citing similar comments from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
With the earlier focus on bringing down LDR now behind it, loan growth has picked up substantially. Advances stood at ₹29.4 trillion in FY26, up 12% year-on-year, a sharp acceleration from 5% growth in FY25.Although LDR continues to remain elevated at 95% in FY26 (96% in FY25), HDFC Bank is unlikely to pursue its earlier intention of reducing the metric to about 87% in a hurry.
This implies investors can expect healthy advances growth in FY27 as well.On the liability side, the bank reduced borrowings by 10.7% year-on-year in FY26, aided by 14.4% growth in deposits to ₹31.05 trillion. The borrowings were largely inherited from the merger with parent HDFC and carried a higher cost than deposits.Positively, net interest margin (NIM) improved 3 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 3.38% in Q4FY26.
However, NIM fell 8 basis points year-on-year, weighing on net interest income (NII) growth, which stood at 5.5% (adjusting for interest on income tax refund of ₹700 crore in Q4FY25) to ₹33,082 crore.Core pre-provisioning operating profit (PPOP) growth was 6.2% to ₹27,004 crore. Slippages (addition of new bad loans) shrank 28% quarter-on-quarter to ₹6,200 crore, helping gross non-performing assets (NPAs) decline 9 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 1.15%.Although there are uncertainties arising from West Asia conflict, the outlook for FY27 looks promising as the interest rate cycle appears to have hit a trough.
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