Axis Bank has again clocked growth at a faster pace than the industry standards. The third largest private sectoe bank of the country, Axis Bank has made its investors get used to such decnet performances on its part.

The Bank has recorded growth of 28% in its loan book in the fourth quarter. This is significantly higher than the 17% rate which has been booked by the industry. The loan growth of the bank had dipped to 12.5% in the quarter ended December 2009.

The loan book of the bank saw dipping figures during the first nine months of last fiscal. The figures took a turn around in the March 2010 quarter in which the net amount in the loan book of the bank figured to Rs. 19, 573 crore as compared to Rs. 3, 726 crore in the previous quarter to this. This sudden leap in loans has been due to surge in demand for loans.

The bank has managed to maintain its standard of asset quality owing to its focus on secured mode of credit including mortgages and auto loans. The retail lending strategy of the bank has been a key success factor for the bank. The bank's non-performing assets (NPA), or bad loans, were 0.36% of net advances, on par with its performance a year ago.

The bank has also maintained a decent CASA ratio. It has opened 86 new branches in the quarter so as to raise its share of CASA deposits. The quarter ended with the bank setting 46.7% of its total deposits to CASA.

It has also increased its net interest margin (NIM) by 72 basis points. The NIM of the bank stands at 4.09% at the close of the March'10 quarter.

With such promising performance in all respects, it can be presumed that the bank could perform better than the industry in this fiscal too.