Healthy growth in core income enabled ICICI Bank to report a consolidated net profit of Rs 10,636 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, a 44 per cent jump over that recorded in the same quarter a year ago.
The second largest private sector lender’s standalone net profit increased 39.7 per cent to Rs 9,648 crore.
Total standalone income rose to Rs 38,763 crore from Rs 28,337 crore a year ago, according to an exchange filing on Saturday.
Core net interest income grew 38 per cent to Rs 18,227 crore on the back of an 18 per cent loan growth and the net interest margin expanding to 4.78 per cent.
ICICI Bank executive director Sandeep Batra said NIMs have narrowed when compared with the previous quarter’s 4.9 per cent and will moderate further. However, the bank expects NIMs in FY24 to match last year’s average of 4.5 per cent.
The non-interest income grew 12 per cent to Rs 5,183 crore.
Domestic loan growth was driven by the retail segment which saw advances swell by 21.9 per cent. Retail loans now account for 46 per cent of the overall loan portfolio. The mortgage book grew 16.6 per cent during the quarter.
Batra said overseas advances decreased by over 29 per cent, which is in sync with the trend of the last two years.
On the asset quality front, the gross non-performing assets ratio improved to 2.76 per cent from the previous quarter’s 2.81 per cent.
Gross slippages amounted to Rs 5318 crore against Rs 4,297 crore in the previous quarter. The retail segment accounted for bulk of the slippages at Rs 5012 crore.
Batra said the share of unsecured assets in the overall book stands at 12 per cent, and both the credit card and personal loans portfolio saw handsome growth in the quarter.
Over 60 per cent of the unsecured lending borrowers are customers and the bank is comfortable with the asset quality from this segment.
Batra declined to comment when asked how the HDFC Bank merger would impact competition in the segment. He said ICICI Bank was performing reasonably well and would continue to do so.
The bank is ready to adopt the upcoming expected credit loss system for provisioning, Batra said, adding that it has done an internal assessment on the likely impact. It continues to carry over Rs 13,100 crore in provisions made earlier.
The bank inaugurated 174 branches during the quarter to take its overall tally to over 6,000, Batra said, adding it has hired 27,650 people in the last year to take its overall employee strength to over 1.35 lakh.
