ICICI Bank Q4 Results: Net Profit Up 30% YoY
ICICI Bank Q4 net profit rose on higher core income, meets estimate
Private sector lender ICICI Bank Ltd reported a 30% year-on-year rise in the net profit for the quarter ended March 31 on higher core income.
Net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 9,121 crore, compared with Rs 7,019 crore a year ago. Analysts polled by Bloomberg estimated a net profit of Rs 9,138 crore for the quarter.
Net interest income, or core income, for the bank rose 40% from a year ago to Rs 17,667 crore. Other income was up 7.4% year-on-year at Rs 5,088 crore.
Net interest margin for the bank rose to 4.9% in the fourt quarter, compared to 4.65% in the October-December period.
All the interest income growth that had to happen is already done at ICICI Bank. The deposits will start to get fully repriced now, as they mover slower than advances.
The lender expects a downward bias on the margins going ahead. However this is very common across the banking system, according Sandeep Batra, executive director, ICICI Bank.
The lender's asset quality position improved, with gross non-performing asset ratio falling 26 basis points sequentially to 2.81%. Similarly net NPA ratio fell 7 basis points quarter-on-quarter and stood at 0.48% as of March 31.
The net addition from gross NPAs, excluding writeoffs and sale, were Rs 14 crore during the January-March quarter, compared to Rs 1,119 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2022.
The gross NPA additions were Rs 4,297 crore, compared to Rs 5,723 crore sequentially. Recoveries and upgrades of NPAs, excluding write-offs and sale, were Rs 4,283 crore. The bank wrote off gross NPAs amounting to Rs 1,158 crore during the fourth quarter.
Provisions for the quarter fell 51.5% year-on-year to Rs 1,620 crore.
Total advances increased by 18.7% year-on-year to Rs 10.2 lakh crore. The retail loan portfolio grew by 22.7% year-on-year, and comprised 54.7% of the total loan portfolio at March 31, 2023. The business banking portfolio grew by 34.9% compared to a year ago. The domestic corporate portfolio grew by 21.2% from last year.
Total deposits rose 10.9% year-on-year to Rs 11.8 lakh crore.
Alleged Databreach
A cybercrime news portal claimed on Friday that data from 3.6 million ICICI Bank customers had been leaked in a databreach incident. Speaking on the issue, Batra said that the bank had sought clarifications from the portal regarding the databreach, however, no clarification was forthcoming.
The alleged vulnerable URLs shared by the portal were not owned or managed by ICICI Bank. "These claims are baseless and mischevious. We urge everyone to disregard this," Batra said.
On HDFC-HDFC Bank Merger
Speaking about HDFC Bank's merger with parent Housing Development Finance Corporation moving ahead, Batra said that ICICI Bank will continue to focus on what it is doing.
"We will continue to focus on what we've been doing and what is appropriate for us. We wish HDFC Bank all the very best for the merger," Batra said.
On Friday, HDFC Bank disclosed that it had received special dispensation from the Reserve Bank of India to spread its priority sector lending requirements emanating from the HDFC book over four years. The regulator however did not give any special concessions to the bank on its liquidity management requirements after the merger.
