ICICI Bank rings profit after losses in Q1 of 2018-19: marginal recovery from NPA, falling rupee main factors

Mumbai: India’s biggest private-sector lender ICICI Bank registered profit in the September quarter after a historic loss in the first three months of the fiscal. But the rising bond yields and treasury loss caused net profit to slide 56% from 2017-18. 

According to its official filing, the bank posted a net profit of Rs 908.88 crore for the three months ended September 30 compared to Rs 2,058.19 crore in the year-ago period. Profit was marginally lower than the ₹949.30 crore estimated by a Bloomberg poll of 20 analysts.

Gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) grew 22.5% to Rs 54,488.96 crore for the quarter ended September 30 against Rs 44,488.54 crore in the year-ago period. The GNPA stood at 8.54% in the September quarter, compared with 8.81% in the June quarter and 7.87% in the year-ago September quarter.

The bank added fresh bad loans worth Rs 3,117 crore in the second quarter, compared to Rs 4,036 crore in the first quarter. The falling rupee attributed to around 41% of the slippages during the quarter on the existing overseas NPA book.

“ICICI Bank results surprised positively, with lower slippages and improved margins,” said Lalitabh Shrivastawa, assistant vice-president, Sharekhan, told Mint.

Provisions during the quarter fell 11.30% to Rs 3,994.29 crore against Rs 4,502.93 crore in the year-ago quarter. In the April-June quarter, the bank had set aside Rs 5,971.29 crore in provisions. 

Net interest income, or the difference between interest earned on loans and that paid on deposits, increased 12.41% to Rs 6,417.58 crore from Rs 5,709.07 crore in seond quarter of 2017-18. Net interest margins at the end of September stood at 3.33% compared to 3.19% in the previous quarter.

The loan book grew by 12.8% year-on-year led by retail loan book, while deposits grew by 12%. 

(With agency inputs)
 

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