NEW DELHI : Beating analysts’ estimates, the country’s second-largest private lender ICICI Bank reported a 23.6% year-on-year growth in net profit to Rs 10,272 crore in the third quarter of FY24.
The profit came on the back of a 13.4% growth in net interest income (NII) of Rs 18,678 crore. Non-net interest income grew 17.5% YoY during the quarter.
The bank’s net interest margin (NIM), which is the proportion of net interest income earned on total outstanding loans and advances, fell by 23 basis points year-on-year to 4.43% during the quarter. Sequentially as well, the NIM fell by 10 basis points. The net interest margin in the first 9 month of the financial year was 4.57%.
Analysts had estimated compression in the banks’ NIM due to high deposit rates.
The asset quality of the bank showed improvement over the last financial year with the gross NPA ratio declining to 2.30% in the third quarter from 2.48% at September 30, 2023. The net NPA ratio was 0.44% during the quarter compared to 0.43% in the previous quarter and 0.55% in the year ago period.
The bank informed that the net additions to gross NPAs, excluding write-offs and sale, were Rs 363 crore in the third quarter compared to Rs 116 crore in the previous quarter. The gross NPA additions were Rs 5,714 crore in Q3 compared to Rs 4,687 crore in Q2.
Recoveries and upgrades of NPAs, excluding writeoffs and sale, were Rs 5,351 crore in Q3 compared to Rs 4,571 crore in Q2. The Bank has written off gross NPAs amounting to Rs 1,389 crore during the quarter. The provisioning coverage ratio on NPAs was 80.7% on December 31, 2023.
The bank saw a healthy 18.8% YoY domestic credit growth during the quarter. Sequentially, domestic credit grew by 3.8%.
The retail loan portfolio grew by 21.4% YoY and 4.5% sequentially. The business banking portfolio grew by 31.9% YoY and 6.5% sequentially. The SME business, comprising borrowers with a turnover of less than Rs 250 crore, grew by 27.5% YoY and 6.7% sequentially. The rural portfolio grew by 18.2% YoY and 4.6% sequentially during the quarter.
Deposits increased by 18.7% year-on-year and 2.9% sequentially to Rs 13.32 lakh crore during the quarter. Average current account deposits increased by 11.6% year-on-year during the quarter while average savings account deposits increased by 2.8% YoY.