Mumbai: Asking all to get rid of the "myth" that the country's second-largest private sector lender targets 30 percent growth in its bottomline, HDFC Bank's managing director Aditya Puri has said it is "naive" to expect such growth numbers in subdued economic conditions.
"Get rid of this myth, we don't give guidance," he said, when asked about the bank's profit growth dipping to the 20 percent levels in recent quarters.
It can be noted that for over a decade, the bank had delivered a growth of over 30 percent in profits.
"When you were talking of 30 percent, the GDP growth under the old indices was above 8 percent. If that situation was to prevail, there is nothing that has happened either with the bank or our prospects for the future that we should not have that (30 percent) growth rate.
"But to expect the growth rate when the GDP is 5 percent is to say the least, naive," Puri told PTI in an interview last week.
He added that there are no other reasons for the slower profit growth, except the slower economic growth. It is also not due to an expanded base, he added.
For the full fiscal ending March, 2015, the bank, for the first time, crossed the Rs 10,000-crore mark in profit, at Rs 10,216-crore, up 20.5 percent from FY14.
"We have always said that our growth rate is a function of the GDP growth and some gain in market share," Puri said.
Asked if the bank is looking at any acquisition opportunities in the wake of the mega Rs 15,000-crore merger of its smaller rival Kotak Mahindra Bank with south-based ING Vyasya Bank, Puri replied in the negative.
"There has been a lot of talk (over mergers). But as far as we are concerned, we are always open, but there is nothing at the table right now," Puri said.
There are repeated speculations about smaller private banks, especially the mid-sized ones in the southern states, being in talks with larger ones for an acquisition as they seek to expand their footprints.
