A fifth of Standard Chartered’s net profit comes from India

India has contributed a fifth of the profit at Standard Chartered Plc, the highest by any region the bank does business in.
Hong Kong contributes the next best at 16%. Till the first half of 2009, Hong Kong was the highest contributor of profit for the bank.
For the first half of calendar 2010, India contributed a profit before tax worth

$624 million, recording a growth of 19% on a year-on-year basis.
Operating profit before tax for the first six months of 2010 was at $ 3.12 billion, registering a growth of 10% on a year-on-year basis.
Income from consumer banking operations in India rose by 18% on a year-on-year basis for the first half of 2010 to $ 251 million, while that of wholesale banking rose 10% to  $760 million in the same period.

As on June 30, the Indian operations witnessed a 24% growth on a year-on-year basis in advances at $ 10.2 billion, and a 30% rise in deposits at $13.1 billion.

“Standard Chartered Bank is aiming for a growth in credit and deposits of 17-20% in financial year 2011,” said Neeraj Swaroop, chief executive officer (India) of the bank. The bank has seen healthy pick up in both consumer banking and wholesale banking segments and will continue to see such momentum going ahead in the second half of 2010, Swaroop said.

The bank’s net interest income stood at 55% of total income, Anurag Adlakha, chief financial officer for India and south Asia operations, said. Net interest margin (NIM) for the group stood at 2.3% and for India it improved 30 basis points to 3.8%, during January-June. NIM was 3.5% during corresponding period last year for India.

“We expect to maintain NIM at current levels and NIM will be around 3.5-4% going ahead,” Swaroop said. The London-headquartered bank’s loan impairment fell 56% on year due to strong recovery in India.

The bank had planned to hire 2,500 people this year, of which they have already hired 1,100, Swaroop said.