Foreign lender, Standard Chartered Bank reported a rise of 37% in its operating profits in India. The bank profits increased to Rs 4,914 crore despite of its rising NPAs during the year 2008.

The bank income in India amounted to Rs 9,098 crore that included Rs 758 crore from the sale of its asset management company (AMC) to IDFC. After taking the sale amount into consideration, total income of the bank increased by 33% in the one year period.

The operating profit for wholesale banking operations in India was up by16% to Rs 3,785 crore while consumer banking profits were up by 13% to Rs 370 crore. This was recorded despite of the increase in the occurrence of bad debt by 74% to Rs 816 crore as compared to Rs 468 crore at the end of 2007.

Standard Chartered Regional CEO Neeraj Swaroop said, "We have seen an increase in NPAs in consumer banking. This is largely concentrated in the personal loan segment, while the credit cards segment did not see any change. There has also been a slight worsening in SME and mortgages. However, this is much below the industry NPA. There is no significant change in NPAs in wholesale banking. However, there has been a higher provisioning because of early trends. Some sectors are showing early signs of stress."

The bank made "slightly higher" provisions for the worsening asset quality of its mortgage and SME portfolio. "As the economy slows down, there is a possibility of an increase in non-performing assets (NPAs) and the higher provisions are based on the early trends in 2009," he said.

The bank's NPA increased to 1.4% in 2008 as compared to 1.1% during the last year. The personal loan business of the bank slowed down where as the credit card base remained unchanged at 1.5 million.

The Indian operations of the bank have been the second largest supplier to the group profits after Hong Kong. Standard Chartered India contributed 21% share in the worldwide profits of the bank. The overall profits of Standard Chartered Plc rose by 13% to $4.5 billion in 2008.

India has been one fastest growing market for StanChart. Considering the importance of the Indian market, the bank is still eager on listing in India. "We would be interested in listing in India. It is something that we are evaluating, but we haven't taken a decision. It will depend on many factors. One of them being market conditions," said Swaroop.