HSBC's profit before tax from India rises marginally to USD 1.11 bn

New Delhi: Foreign lender HSBC's profit before tax (PBT) from India rose marginally to USD 1.11 billion in 2021.

The bank's PBT had stood at USD 1.024 billion in 2020.

The country is the fourth biggest profit centre for the UK-headquartered lender, after Hong Kong, the UK and Mainland China, according to an official statement.

Courtesy back-office operations, India retains the top ranking in terms of employees but the number of people employed declined by 1,000 to 38,000. The total number of employees had declined by 1,000 in 2020 as well.

Among its business lines, the commercial banking segment showed one of the fastest growth at nearly 42 per cent to deliver a profit before tax (PBT) of USD 265 million as against USD 187 million in the year-ago period.

The profits from the wealth and personal banking vertical increased to USD 20 million in 2021 from USD 16 million, while the same for global banking and markets were maintained at USD 593 million.

The 'corporate centre' function saw an increase in the overall profit contribution to USD 232 million as against USD 228 million, according to the statement.

In 2021, equity capital markets (ECM) team completed 10 transactions cumulatively aggregating USD 4.8 billion across IPOs (initial public offerings) and other follow-on issuances, it said.

It also has established a USD 125-million credit programme for technology-led start-ups in the country, the statement said.

The overall customer accounts in India increased to 24,507 as against 20,199 in the year-ago period, and the statement said there was a significant growth on this side despite the "challenging economic environment".

Its wholesale lending practice of loans and advances to customers at amortised cost saw an increase to USD 12.224 billion as against USD 10.298 billion in the year-ago period. As of 2021-end, it had assets of USD 1.786 billion from real estate as against USD 1.951 billion, and USD 4 billion from the non-bank lenders as against USD 3 billion.

In India, the ban contributed an additional USD 10 million towards COVID-19 relief efforts in the last year, which witnessed the second wave of infections playing havoc across the country.