ICICI Bank on Saturday beat Street estimates when it posted a 59 per cent growth in net profits for the quarter ended March 31.

Standalone net profit of the private sector lender rose to Rs 7,018.71 crore from Rs 4,402.61 crore in the same period of the previous year.

Analysts had expected ICICI Bank to report a net profit of around Rs 6,400 crore. The strong jump in its bottomline came on the back of a 21 per cent growth in its core income (NII-interest earned minus interest paid) and a drop in provisions.

Provisions at the bank declined to Rs 1,068.95 crore against Rs 2,883.47 crore in the year-ago period. NII rose to Rs 12,605 crore from Rs 10,431 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Asset quality of ICICI Bank also showed an improvement with the ratio of gross non-performing assets (NPAs) falling to 3.60 per cent from 4.13 per cent on a sequential basis. In absolute terms, the gross NPAs came in at Rs 33,919.52 crore from Rs 41,373.42 crore in the year-ago period.

ICICI Bank added that the net deletions from gross NPAs, excluding write-offs and sale, were Rs 489 crore during the quarter compared with Rs 191 crore in the preceding three months.

The gross NPA additions or slippages were Rs 4,204 crore in January-March 2022 compared with Rs 4,018 crore in the third quarter of the fiscal. Recoveries and upgrades of NPAs, excluding write-offs and sale, increased to Rs 4,693 crore during the period from Rs 4,209 crore in the preceding quarter.

The lender’s fee income showed a rise of 14 per cent over the previous year at Rs 4,366 crore against Rs 3,815 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

ICICI Bank added that there was a treasury gain of Rs 129 crore in the quarter compared with a loss of Rs 25 crore in the previous year.

On its loan growth, ICICI Bank said the retail loan portfolio, excluding rural loans, grew 20 per cent over the previous year and 6 per cent sequentially, and comprised almost 53 per cent of the total loan portfolio as on March 31, 2022.

The bank’s business banking portfolio grew 43 per cent over the previous year and 10 per cent sequentially as on March 31 while the SME business, that includes borrowers with a turnover of less than Rs 250 crore, rose 34 per cent over the previous year period.

On the deposit front, total deposits increased by 14 per cent year-on-year and 5 per cent over October-December 2021 to Rs 1,064,572 crore.

According to the bank, the average current account deposits increased by 24 per cent as against the same period of the previous year while the average savings account deposits rose by 23 per cent

At its meeting today, the board of directors recommended a dividend of Rs 5 per share.