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Informist, Saturday, Apr. 25, 2026

By Nandini Sinha and Priyasmita Dutta
 

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI – IDFC FIRST Bank expects the top line to grow 18.0-18.5% in financial year 2026-27 (Apr-Mar), the company's management said during a post-earnings conference call with analysts Saturday. The management expects the bank's business growth in FY27 to be better than last year, with a sequential loan growth of 5% expected from Apr-Jun itself, the management said. 
 

Even on the deposits side, while it grew 1% sequentially in the Jan-Mar quarter of FY26, the bank expects a better growth in FY27. "...our deposit will grow strong this quarter. This quarter also, this year also, we'll be very strong. I can only tell you that our, this month has started off very well," Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer V. Vaidyanathan said.

IDFC FIRST Bank's gross advances grew 20% on year to INR 2.84 trillion as on Mar. 31. It was up 4% sequentially. Total deposits as on Mar. 31 were INR 2.94 trillion, up nearly 17% on year and 1% sequentially. 

The bank expects the net interest margin to be stable in FY27, around the similar levels of 5.75% reported in FY26, the management said. 
 

The management said it expects the operating expenses in FY27 to grow 13-14% on year. IDFC FIRST Bank's operating expenses grew over 25% on year to INR 62.49 billion. The lender's operating expenses could be higher in the Apr-Jun quarter of FY27, but is expected to decline from September quarter onwards, the management said. "Because we have put out some branches, we would have noted about 80 branches in Q4. Q1 also has impact of increments and so on. So, these are some of those factors which would play out," the management said.
 

IDFC FIRST Bank has overcome the crisis in the microfinance business, the management said. "The microfinance crisis is gone. Suddenly our credit cost has come down to 1.6% to 1.7% of the average loan book, which is probably the lowest we've seen in a long, long time," Vaidyanathan told analysts. The credit cost is expected to come down to 1.7-1.8% in FY27 from 2.13% in FY26. 

The fraud involving Haryana government accounts at its Chandigarh branch impacted the lender's net profit in the reporting quarter but it was a "one-off" incident, IDFC FIRST Bank's management said. The bank took a post-tax hit of INR 4.83 billion from the fraud. 

The private sector lender has a sufficient capital adequacy level to support the transition to the new expected credit loss norms, the management said. "...as when the final guidelines come, this could mean that we need to park some more capital on the ECL (expected credit loss) front itself on transition," the management said.

For the March quarter, IDFC FIRST Bank reported net profit of INR 3.19 billion and total income of INR 121.83 billion. Friday, shares of the company ended around 1% lower at INR 67.23 apeice on the National Stock Exchange.  End

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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