MUMBAI: Beating the analyst’s expectations, ICICI Bank, the country’s second-largest private lender, on Saturday reported a 40% rise in net profit to Rs 9,648 crore in the quarter that ended June this year, driven by higher interest income and loan growth.
The bank had posted Rs 6,905 crore net profit in the same quarter the previous year.
Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and paid, rose 38% to Rs 18,227 crore during the first quarter from Rs 13,210 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Net interest margin (NIM) expanded to 4.78% from 4.01 per cent a year earlier, but was lower than 4.9% reported in the January-March quarter.
The bank expects margins to moderate in coming quarters.
“We do expect the repricing of deposits to continue over the next couple of quarters. As we have been guiding in the previous calls, the overall decline in NIMs was very much in line with our expectations,” Sandeep Batra, Executive Director, of ICICI Bank said in a conference call.
For the 2023-24 year as a whole, he expects NIM to be similar to last year.
The bank’s average NIM for FY23 was at 4.5%. Fee income grew by 14.1% during the quarter to Rs 4,843 crore.
Asset quality for the lender improved with gross non-performing asset ratio improving to 2.76 per cent, lower by 5 basis points sequentially. Net NPA ratio remained flat at 0.48%.
Provisions (excluding provision for tax) were Rs 1,292 crore during the first quarter compared to Rs 1,144 crore in the same quarter last year.
The net addition to gross NPAs, excluding write-offs and sale, was Rs 1,807 crore in Q1-2024 compared to Rs 14 crore in Q4, 2023. The gross NPA additions were Rs 5,318 crore in Q1-2024 compared to Rs 4,297 crore in Q4,2023.
Recoveries and upgrades of NPAs, excluding write-offs and sale, were Rs 3,511 crore in Q1-2024 compared to Rs 4,283 crore in Q4-2023. The bank has written off gross NPAs amounting to Rs 1,169 crore in Q1-2024.
Total advances increased by 18.1% year-on-year and 3.7% sequentially to Rs 10,57,583 crore at June 30, 2023. Net domestic advances grew 20.6% YoY and 4% sequentially on June 30, 2023.