Housing Development and Finance Corporation, better known as HDFC, registered a growth of 24.2 percent in the July-September quarter. Net profit for the second quarter rose to 663.9 crore as against Rs 534.2 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

An official from the bank said that the reason for this was greater loan disbursements. There was 24 % rise in the loans disbursed this quarter. Lower cost of funds and lower non performing loans also helped in greater net profit.

The interest spread on loans was marginally higher this quarter at 2.2 percent as against 2.19 percent the preceding quarter. However, it was a little lower than the corresponding quarter the previous year. It was 2.24 in the July-September quarter a year ago.

The HDFC board, with Mr. Deepak Parekh as the executive chairman, met on Monday to approve the results. The board is likely to meet again when Mr Parekh ends his term as the executive chairman.

According to Keki Mistry, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, HDFC, 70% of the loans disbursed by the company are to individuals. He said the composition of the portfolio had been changed, retail loans accounted for 66 percent of the portfolio down from 70 percent. He said that the corporate portfolio constituted 34 percent of the portfolio and the commercial real estate, 10 percent.

Mistry also expressed hope that the bank could see a 20 percent growth in approval and disbursements of loans in the coming months.

The bank's income from operations grew 7.3 percent in the second quarter to Rs 2,783.5 crore. Its profit on sale of investments rose 171.6 percent to Rs 61.29 crore. Interest and other expenses saw a slight increase of 4.5 percent to Rs 1,836.51 crore in the second quarter. The net profit for the half year (April - September 2009) was up 22.6 percent to Rs 1,228.86 crore.