ICICI Bank on Saturday beat analyst estimates as it posted a 30 per cent growth in net profits on higher core income even as provisions declined.

The private lender posted a standalone net profit of Rs 5,511 crore against Rs 4,251 crore in the same period of the previous year.

Ahead of the results, the Street was expecting ICICI Bank to report a net profit in the region of Rs 5,300 crore.

This growth in its bottomline came as the net interest income (NII-interest earned minus interest expended) gained 25 per cent over the corresponding previous period to Rs 11,690 crore.

Non-interest income, excluding treasury income, showed a rise of 26 per cent to Rs 4,400 crore from Rs 3,486 crore in the same period of the previous year.

The asset quality of the bank also improved with the percentage of gross non-performing assets (NPAs) falling to 4.82 per cent from 5.15 per cent in the April-June period.

The net NPA ratio fell below the 1 per cent mark to 0.99 per cent which is a seven- year low. It stood at 1.16 per cent in the preceding quarter.

In value terms, the amount of gross NPAs stood at Rs 41,437.41 crore compared with Rs 43,148.28 crore in the preceding three months.

Provisions at the bank declined to Rs 2,713.48 crore from Rs 2,851.69 crore on a sequential basis.

ICICI Bank disclosed that it restructured loans worth Rs 3,737.66 crore in terms of the RBI’s resolution framework for Covid-19 related stress announced in August last year. Of this, Rs 61.22 crore slipped into NPAs in the first half.

Similarly, under the RBI’s second such package announced in May 2021, it recast loans worth Rs 840 crore of which Rs 601 crore were from the retail segment.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Sandeep Batra, executive director, ICICI Bank said the lender is optimistic about the growth of the Indian economy on the back of increased vaccination and the deleveraging of corporate India.

He added that ICICI Bank is not risk averse in terms of lending to any sector.

ICICI Bank said with the increase in economic activity, disbursements across all retail products increased sequentially during the quarter.

Mortgage disbursements were close to the level seen in the quarter ended March 31, 2021, reflecting the increase in demand coupled with its seamless customer onboarding experience through pre-approved offers and digitisation.

Disbursements of personal loans and auto loans were also close to the levels prevailing in the quarter ended March 31, 2021. In credit cards too, the bank continued its strong performance with the value of spends rising 47 per cent sequentially.

During the period, its retail loan portfolio grew 20 per cent over the previous year and comprised 62 per cent of the total loan portfolio as on September 30, 2021.

Similarly, the SME business, which includes borrowers with a turnover of less than Rs 250 crore, grew 42 per cent over the year-ago period.

Growth in the domestic wholesale banking portfolio was 14 per cent over the previous year period.