ICICI Bank Ltd., India’s second-largest private lender, announced first-quarter profits that surpassed analyst estimates. The net income for the three months ending June increased by 15.5% year-over-year, reaching 127.68 billion rupees, or approximately $1.5 billion. This figure comfortably beat the average analyst estimate of 119.85 billion rupees, which was based on a Bloomberg survey.
The significant profit growth was primarily attributed to the robust performance of the bank's business and corporate lending divisions. This indicates a strong demand for credit in these segments, contributing substantially to the bank's earnings.
Analysts had expected a 5% rise in profit, with net interest income (NII) forecast to increase by 10% to 238.12 billion rupees. While net interest margin (NIM) was projected to slightly decline to 4.18% from 4.34% (or 4.32% quarter-over-quarter), lower provisions for bad loans, estimated at 17.26 billion rupees (4.8% lower than the previous year), also supported profitability. Gross non-performing assets (GNPA) were anticipated to inch up slightly to 1.45% from 1.4% quarter-over-quarter. Loan growth was expected to remain strong, around 16% year-on-year, particularly across corporate banking, mortgages, gold loans, and personal loans, with asset quality remaining stable.
