New Delhi: ICICI Bank, country’s largest private company, on Saturday reported 26% rise in its standalone net profit at ₹1,221 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2020. The lender’s net profit in year-ago period was ₹969 crore. The lender missed the average estimate of ₹3,510.50 crore made by 16 analysts who were polled by Bloomberg. Analysts at Emkay Research expected ICICI Bank to report relatively healthy earnings despite some prudent provisioning.
The net interest income increased by 17% to ₹8,927 crore as against ₹7,620 crore in March 2019.
The lender made higher provisions to the tune of ₹5,967 crore, including coronavirus-related provisions of ₹2,725 crore. The lender’s provisions in the previous quarter were ₹2,083 crore.
“The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic could result in fewer business opportunities, lower revenues, and an increase in the levels of non-performing assets and provisions, depending inter alia upon the period of time for which the pandemic extends, the remedial measures adopted by governments and central banks, and the time taken for economic activity to resume at normal levels after the pandemic,” the bank said in its filing to stock exchanges.
The bank said that its board appoved fundraising of up to $3 billion via issuance of bonds, notes, offshore certificates of deposits in overseas market over one year.
The board also approved fundraising of up to ₹25,000 crore in domestic market through issuance of debt securities over one year.
The bank’s profit after tax grew by 136% year-on-year to ₹7,931 crore in FY20 from ₹3,363 crore in the year ended March 31, 2019.
Gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio for March quarter decreased to 5.53% as against 5.95% in December quarter while net NPA for March quarter also decreased, to 1.41% as against 1.49% in December quarter and 2.06% in year-ago period.
The core operating profit (profit before provisions and tax excluding treasury income) grew by 18 per cent year-on-year to ₹7,148 crore in the January to March quarter, the bank said in a statement.
ICICI Bank said total advances increased by 10% year-on-year to ₹6.45 lakh crore at March 31, 2020, from ₹5.86 lakh crore at March 31, 2019.
Significantly, total deposits increased by 18% year-on-year to ₹7.7 lakh crore at March 31, 2020.
The bank’s total capital adequacy at March 31 as per the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines on Basel III norms, including profits for FY20, was 16.11 per cent and tier-1 capital adequacy was 14.72 per cent compared to the minimum regulatory requirements of 11.08 per cent and 9.08 per cent respectively.
“The bank is well-capitalised and has a strong deposit franchise. The digital and technology platforms are key strengths of the bank and the present scenario provides an opportunity to re-engineer the delivery of banking,” it said.
On Friday, the bank’s stock on BSE closed 0.3% lower at ₹335.65.
