Business
Bank reports Rs 2,922 crore net profit on higher loan growth and treasury gains; Gross NPAs stood at 3.78% of gross advances
Updated : Mar 20, 2018, 02:01 AM IST
ICICI Bank, the largest bank by assets, reported a 10% rise in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 2014 at Rs 2,922 crore on higher loan growth and treasury gains, more than analysts' estimate of Rs 2,865 crore.
As the cost of funds for the bank came down, the net interest margin (NIM) -- a key operating parameter, which is the difference between the interest income generated and interest paid on the deposits – rose to 3.57% during the quarter, from higher than the 3.46% in the preceding quarter.
The NIM for the bank in the same period a year ago was 3.33%.
Chanda Kochhar, chief executive officer and managing director, ICICI Bank, said in a media concall, "Our funding costs have come down and this gave us the confidence to revise our base rate by 25 basis points to 9.75%. We hope to maintain our NIMs at the current levels.”
The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank stood at Rs 15,095 crore, or 3.78% of gross advances, as compared with Rs 10,505 crore reported a year ago (3.03%). The fresh slippages during the quarter was at Rs 3,260 crore, of which Rs 2,246 crore was from the restructured book of the bank. It has a restructuring pipeline of Rs 1,500 crore of loans. The bank has made Rs 2,033 crore of provisions during the quarter.
The bank booked treasury gains of Rs 726 crore as against Rs 245 crore during the same period last year. It has seen healthy growth in retail loans, which comprises 42.5% of its total portfolio, with home loan growing 26% and car loans 25%. Overall retail loan growth was 25% while corporate book saw a growth of 10%.
The stock fell by 1.85% to settle at Rs 302.40 on the BSE. During the day, it slipped 3.61% to Rs 296.95.
Saday Sinha, banking analyst, Kotak Securities, said, “ICICI Bank’s core performance came marginally ahead on back of better-than-expected NIM while loan book grew at healthy pace (14.4% year on year). Asset quality continued to remain a drag as slippage from restructured portfolio spiked. Fresh impairment remained elevated at 2.7% during the quarter, in line with the management’s guidance. Higher slippage from restructured portfolio led to decline in outstanding restructured book.”