HSBC Indias profit before tax rises nearly 19% to USD 766 million in January-June period

Foreign lender HSBC on Tuesday reported an 18.75 per cent growth in its profit before tax at USD 766 million from India operations in the first half of 2023.

The lender, which has 26 branches in the country, had reported a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of USD 645 million in the January-June (H1) period last year.

The global banking and markets vertical contributed the most to the profits, delivering a PBT of USD 408 million as against USD 324 million in the year-ago period.

It was followed by the commercial banking side, where its PBT during the first half of 2023 rose to USD 209 million from USD 156 million.

The corporate centre, which includes balance sheet and treasury management, witnessed a decline in the pre-tax profit to USD 114 million as against USD 132 million in the year-ago period.

The wealth and personal banking vertical showed a marginal improvement in performance, with the PBT growing to USD 35 million from USD 33 million a year ago.

The bank's overall wholesale lending book stood at USD 15.334 billion in H1, 2023, up from USD 13.319 billion in December 2022, the bank said.

Wholesale lending included a USD 10.323 billion exposure under the corporate and commercial book, USD 5.011 billion to non-banking finance companies and USD 1.868 billion to the real estate sector.

The personal lending book grew to USD 1.983 billion at the end of June, from USD 1.668 billion in December 2022, the bank said.

Residential mortgages formed the biggest part of the personal lending portfolio at USD 1.356 billion while credit card book was at USD 169 million, the bank said.

Globally, HSBC Group posted a USD 12.9 billion rise in PBT to USD 21.7 billion in the January-June period.

HSBC Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn said there was broad-based profit generation around the world amid continued tight cost control.