Despite setting aside money for depreciation on investments, ICICI Bank reported a 20 per cent increase in net profit in the July-September quarter on the back of healthy growth in margins.
In the reporting quarter, India’s largest private sector bank posted a net profit of Rs 2,352 crore against Rs 1,956 crore, a year ago.
Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and expended, grew 20 per cent to Rs 4,044 crore.
Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank, said good growth in interest income and margins, and a tight control on costs helped the bank post growth even in the challenging economic environment.
Net interest margin, a measure of profitability for banks, expanded to 3.31 per cent during the quarter from 3 per cent a year earlier. “We would end the year with a similar net interest margin,” Kochhar said. The bank has fully provided for depreciation on its investment portfolio (Rs 279 crore), and has not made use of the option permitted by the RBI to recognise the same over three quarters.
Total income grew 7.5 per cent to Rs 12,979 crore, while total expenditure was up 2.4 per cent at Rs 9,092 crore.
ICICI Bank went slow on corporate loan growth as the weak economic environment could lead to higher non-performing assets.
DEPOSIT, LOAN GROWTH
Overall deposit growth, in the three months ended September, was just about 10 per cent due to slow corporate deposit growth. However, Kochhar said the bank’s low-cost current account, savings account (CASA) deposits grew 17 per cent during the quarter.
Of the total deposits of Rs 3,09,046 crore, less than 30 per cent are corporate deposits and the rest, retail.
On the credit front, the bank’s retail loan book grew 20 per cent aided by strong demand for home and auto loans.
The corporate loan book growth slowed to 11 per cent (from 20 per cent, a year ago) as the bank said that it is following a “calibrated” corporate loan growth strategy.
For the full year, the bank expects its retail credit to grow at 23 per cent and corporate credit, at 14-15 per cent.
Restructured loans
The bank restructured loans worth Rs 1,076 crore during the quarter. Another Rs 2,000 crore worth of loans, Kochhar said, are in the restructuring pipeline. “All of these or a similar amount of loans could go into restructuring in the next quarter or two,” she said.
While the bank’s gross non-performing loans declined a tad to Rs 10,028 crore during the quarter, its net non-performing assets (after adjusting for provisions) rose to Rs 2,698 crore from Rs 2,462 crore in the preceding quarter.
The bank has set aside Rs 625 crore (Rs 508 crore, a year ago) as cover for potential loan losses.
During the quarter, the bank’s peers, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, posted 27 per cent and 22 per cent growth in net profit, respectively.
Shares of ICICI Bank ended flat at Rs 1,021.65 on the BSE on Friday.