Shares of ICICI Bank gained close to 2 percent on Monday after the private sector lender on Saturday delivered a robust performance for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2022, beating Street estimates. The key benchmark indices, on the other hand, started Monday’s session with deep cuts tracking downbeat global sentiment.
At 9:30 am, shares of the bank were trading at Rs 758.50, up 11.15 points, or 1.49 percent higher on the BSE. The 30-share index Sensex was down 719.96 points or 1.26 percent lower at 56,477.19.
ICICI Bank’s net profit jumped 59.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 7,018.7 crore. In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 4,403 crore.
A CNBC-TV18 Poll had predicted a profit of Rs 6,629.7 crore for the quarter under review. The total income of the bank rose to Rs 27,412 crore in the January-March period from Rs 23,953 crore in the year-ago quarter, ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing.
Goldman Sachs said that the bank is well-positioned to structurally report superior return on assets at closer to 1.9 percent. It maintained a “buy” rating on the bank’s stock.
NII
The net interest income (NII) increased by 21 percent YoY to Rs 12,605 crore in Q4-2022 from Rs 10,431 crore in Q4-2021. The net interest margin was 4.00 percent in Q4-2022 compared to 3.84 percent in Q4-2021 and 3.96 percent in the quarter ended December 31, 2021 (Q3-2022).
The core operating profit (profit before provisions and tax, excluding treasury income) increased by 19 percent YoY to Rs 10,164 crore in Q4-2022 from Rs 8,565 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2021 (Q4-2021); excluding dividend income from subsidiaries/associates, core operating profit grew by 21 percent year-on-year in Q4-2022.
The non-interest income, excluding treasury income, increased by 11 percent YoY to Rs 4,608 crore in Q4-2022 from Rs 4,137 crore in Q4-2021. The fee income grew by 14 percent YoY to Rs 4,366 crore in Q4-2022 from Rs 3,815 crore in Q4-2021.
Fees from retail, rural, business banking and SME customers constituted about 77 percent of total fees in Q4-2022. There was a treasury gain of Rs 129 crore in Q4-2022 compared to a loss of Rs 25 crore in Q4-2021.
Provisions (excluding provision for tax) declined by 63 percent YoY to Rs 1,069 crore in Q4-2022 from Rs 2,883 crore in Q4-2021. Provisions for Q4-2022 included a contingency provision of Rs 1,025 crore made on a prudent basis. The profit before tax grew by 63 percent year-on-year to Rs 9,224 crore in Q4-2022 from Rs 5,657 crore in Q4-2021.
Sandeep Batra, ICICI Bank’s executive director, said the prudent provisioning was done due to the impact of inflation induced by the current geopolitical events on ICICI Bank’s borrowers, but he declined to say how much of the bank’s Rs 8.59 lakh billion loan book was susceptible to such vagaries.
On a standalone basis, the profit after tax grew by 59 percent YoY to Rs 7,019 crore in Q4-2022 from Rs 4,403 crore in Q4-2021. On a standalone basis, the profit after tax grew by 44 percent YoY to Rs 23,339 crore in FY2022 from Rs 16,193 crore in the year ended March 31, 2021 (FY2021).
Deposit Growth
Total deposits increased by 14 percent YoY and 5 percent sequentially to Rs 1,064,572 crore on March 31, 2022. Average current account deposits increased by 24 percent year-on-year in Q4-2022. Average savings account deposits increased by 23 percent YoY in Q4-2022. Total term deposits increased by 9 percent YoY to Rs 546,135 crore on March 31, 2022.
Asset Quality
The net non-performing assets declined by 24 percent year-on-year and 5 percent sequentially to Rs 6,961 crore on March 31, 2022. The net NPA ratio declined to 0.76 percent on March 31, 2022, from 0.85 percent on December 31, 2021 and 1.14 percent on March 31, 2021.
The net deletions from gross NPAs, excluding write-offs and sales, were Rs 489 crore in Q4-2022 compared to Rs 191 crore in Q3-2022. The gross NPA additions were Rs 4,204 crore in Q4-2022 compared to Rs 4,018 crore in Q3-2022.
Branches
The bank had a network of 5,418 branches and 13,626 ATMs on March 31, 2022.
First Published: IST
