Profit before tax grew marginally lower at 14 per cent to Rs 177.76 crore. An amount of Rs 30 crore has been provided for taxation. Disbursements and sanctions have shown higher growth rates of 33 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively. Loan approvals for the six-month period ended September 30, 1998, stood at Rs 1,869.44 crore and disbursements at Rs 1,510.63 crore.

The premier housing finance company's margins suffered in the six-month period. The interest expenses grew by 27 per cent to Rs 603.93 crore. HDFC's asset size has grown by 31.49 per cent to Rs 11,346.31 crore in the one-year period from September 30, 1997. Housing portfolio at Rs 7,848.24 crore constituted 69 per cent of HDFC's total assets. This includes loans outstanding and investments inpreference shares for financing housing-related projects which are reflected under investments in the balance sheet.

"Retail loan growth during the first six months has been robust as a result of increased affordability due to falling property prices and lower interest rates. Approvals and disbursements in respect of individual loans were higher by 41 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively, as compared to the corresponding period in the previous year," said an HDFC release.

HDFC's deposit base continued to grow robustly. Its deposit base increased to Rs 5,162.98 crore as on September 30, 1998 from Rs 3,726.67 crore in September, 1997. The total number of deposit accounts crossed a million during the six-month period.

Other new resource mobilisations included Rs 555 crore sanctioned by commercial banks as term loans which will be drawn down during the course of the year. HDFC also raised Rs 195.38 crore through a private placement of non-convertible debentures. As on September 30, the total loanoutstandings for HDFC stood at Rs 7,848.24 crore as against Rs 6,944.07 crore on March 31, 1998.