ICICI Bank on Saturday topped Street estimates as it reported a 19 per cent growth in net profits for the third quarter ended December 2020 even as provisions rose. The private sector lender posted a net profit of Rs 4,939.59 crore against Rs 4,146.46 crore in the same period of the previous year.
Analysts had expected ICICI Bank to report profits of around Rs 4,200 crore. The better-than-expected performance in its bottomline came after the bank’s core net interest income (NII-interest earned minus interest paid) increased 16 per cent over the same period last year to Rs 9,912 crore from Rs 8,545 crore.
During the third quarter, total provisions stood at Rs 2,741.72 crore compared with Rs 2,083.20 crore a year ago.
ICICI Bank disclosed it had held aggregate Covid-19 related provisions of Rs 8,772.30 crore as of September 2020 and during the third quarter, it made contingency provisions amounting to Rs 3,012.16 crore for borrower accounts not classified as NPAs after the Supreme Court’s interim order.
