Mumbai, April 24: HDFC Bank has reported 37 per cent growth in net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 at Rs 471.11 crore against Rs 343.57 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

At a time when a couple of big private sector banks have made provisions to cover losses on forex derivatives, HDFC Bank has bucked this trend. The bank today did not report any such provision.

Provisions and contingencies for the quarter were Rs 465.1 crore against Rs 267.1 crore in the year-ago period.

These provisions were for non-performing and standard assets (Rs 293 crore) and tax, legal and other contingencies (Rs 172.7 crore). The bank, however, did not disclose the details of these legal and other contingencies.

Senior officials from the bank said though there were no major cases against the bank, such provisions had also been made in the past. However, they added that the increase did take into account “market developments’’.

The net profit marks sequential growth of nearly 10 per cent over Rs 429.4 crore in the last quarter.

It met analysts’ estimates who expected profit to be in the region of Rs 460 crore. The bank’s board today recommended a dividend of 85 per cent for the year ended March 31, 2008, against 70 per cent for the previous year.

HDFC Bank’s total income rose 51 per cent to Rs 3,505.5 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, compared with Rs 2,321 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Net revenues (net of interest income and other income) were Rs 2,191.4 crore for the quarter, an increase of 51 per cent over Rs 1,448.9 crore in the year-ago period. Interest earned grew 53 per cent to Rs 2,956.2 crore during the quarter from Rs 1,926.5 crore. Net interest income for the quarter increased 56 per cent to Rs 1,642.1 crore.

For the year ended March March 31, 2008, net profit rose 39 per cent to Rs 1,590.2 crore.