ICICI Bank on Saturday met analyst estimates when it reported a 17.40 per cent increase in net profits for the quarter ended March 31.

The lender posted a net profit of ₹10,707.53 crore compared with ₹9,121.87 crore in the corresponding previous quarter. Brokerages had projected a net profit of around ₹10,500 crore.

This growth came on the back of lower provisions and an 8 per cent increase in core net interest income (NII-interest earned minus interest paid) to ₹19,093 crore from ₹17,667 crore in the year-ago period.

Provisions dipped to ₹718.49 crore from ₹1,619.80 crore a year ago.

Non-interest income increased 15.7 per cent to ₹5,930 crore from ₹5,127 crore in the year-ago quarter. Of this, fee income grew 12.5 per cent to ₹5,436 crore from ₹4,830 crore.

ICICI Bank added that fees from retail, rural, business banking and SME customers constituted 77 per cent of the total fees in the fourth quarter.

During the quarter, ICICI Bank’s asset quality improved with the percentage of gross non-performing assets (NPAs) falling to 2.16 per cent from 2.30 per cent in the preceding three months.

In absolute terms, the gross NPAs were at ₹27,961.68 crore against ₹28,774.63 crore on a sequential basis. ICICI Bank disclosed that during the period, its gross NPA additions were ₹5,139 crore compared with ₹5,714 crore in the October-December period of 2023.

The lender added that excluding NPAs, the total fund based outstanding to all borrowers under resolution declined to ₹3,059 crore, or 0.3 per cent of the total advances, as on March 31 from ₹3,318 crore on December 31.

The bank now holds provisions amounting to ₹975 crore against these borrowers under resolution. Further, it continues to hold contingency provisions of ₹13,100 crore as on March 31.

The bank’s net domestic book showed a rise of 16.8 per
cent at ₹11,50,955 crore from ₹9,85,529 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Of this, the retail loan portfolio rose 19.4 per cent to ₹6,66,261 crore, while rural loans showed a growth of 17 per cent. Within the retail loan portfolio, mortgages led with a growth of 15 per cent to ₹3,95,921 crore from ₹3,44,696 crore.

ICICI Bank added that its total period-end deposits increased by 19.6 per cent over the previous year to ₹14,12,825 crore as on March 31.