ICICI Bank Ltd. on Saturday reported first-quarter standalone net profit grew 50% from a year earlier to ₹6,905 crore, helped by strong loan growth and an improvement in asset quality.
The private lender’s consolidated net profit grew 55% year-on-year to ₹7,385 crore .
“Our core operating profit (profit before provisions and tax, excluding treasury income) grew by 19% year-on-year to ₹10,273 crore in a risk calibrated manner,” Sandeep Batra, executive director, ICICI Bank, said in a post-earnings conference call.
He said the bank’s net interest income grew by 21% to ₹13,210 crore and total period-end deposits grew by 13% to ₹1,050,349 crore.
During the quarter, the bank’s domestic loan portfolio grew by 22% and the net NPA ratio declined to 0.70% as on June 30, from 0.76% at the end of the preceding quarter on March 31, 2022.
“Net NPA is at a comfortable level. We are happy the way net NPA has reduced. We are getting some write-back at this time,” Mr. Batra said.
Net additions to gross NPAs amounted to ₹382 crore, compared with net additions of ₹3,604 crore a year earlier.
First-quarter gross NPA additions were ₹5,825 crore, compared with ₹4,204 crore in the three months ended March 31.. Recoveries and upgrades of NPAs, excluding write-offs and sale, were ₹5,443 crore, an increase from the preceding quarter’s ₹4,693 crore, the bank said in a filing.
The gross NPAs written-off in Q1-2023 were ₹1,126 crore. The provisioning coverage ratio on NPAs was 79.6% as on June 30, 2022, it said.
Excluding NPAs, the total fund based outstanding to all borrowers under resolution as per the various extant regulations/guidelines declined to ₹7,376 crore or 0.8% of total advances, from ₹8,267 crore on March 31.
The bank said it held provisions amounting to ₹2,290 crore against these borrowers under resolution, as of June 30. In addition, the bank held contingency provisions of ₹8,500 crore.
Including first-quarter profit, total capital adequacy ratio was 18.7% and Tier-1 capital adequacy ratio was 17.9%, on a standalone basis.
The net interest margin was 4.01%, compared with 3.89% in the year-earlier quarter.
The bank’s provisions (excluding provision for tax) declined by 60% to ₹1,144 crore, from ₹2,852 crore. Provisions, including a contingency provision of ₹1,050 crore, had been made on a prudent basis, Mr. Batra said.
During the quarter, the bank’s retail loan portfolio grew by 24% and comprised 53.1% of the total loan portfolio. The domestic wholesale banking portfolio grew by 14% and domestic advances grew by 22%. Total advances increased by 21% to ₹8,95,625 crore.
