The country’s oldest and biggest specialist mortgage private lender, HDFC Bank has revealed its plans to expand its branch network by adding another 300 branches during this fiscal.

With this, the number of branches of the bank will increase to 1712 from the previous 1412.

A senior official of the bank revealed that the bank has required regulatory approvals for establishing new branches.

The existing network of the bank comprises of a network of 1412 branches and 3295 ATMs dotted across the country.

The private lender has posted an underlying net profit of Rs 733 crore for January-March quarter, which is a 20 percent increase for the same period during the last fiscal.

The gross NPAs of the bank stood at 2.1 percent of the gross advances. Presently, retail loans of the bank comprise 58.1 percent of the gross advances.

The provision coverage ratio of the bank increased from 67 percent as on June 30, 2008 to 70 percent as on June 30, 2009.