ICICI Bank posted a 13 per cent increase in net profit at ₹2,532 crore for the December quarter, on stable interest income and healthy loan growth in the retail segment.

Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO, said that but for the provisions of ₹215 crore towards additional deferred tax, the profit would have grown 22 per cent. Provisions towards bad loans during the quarter rose 88 per cent to ₹695 crore from ₹369 crore a year ago.

Net interest income (the difference between interest earned and expended) was at ₹4,255 crore, up 22 per cent. Non-interest income was up 26 per cent at ₹2,801 crore.

The bank made a treasury profit of ₹447 crore during the quarter, compared to a loss of ₹72 crore in the second quarter.

Despite the hike in policy rate, ICICI Bank expects to sustain its net interest margin as the bank’s dependence on short-term funding is low.

Loans and deposit growth Overall, the loan portfolio increased 16 per cent, driven by 22 per cent growth in retail advances. Given the challenges in the economic climate, the bank moderated its corporate loan growth to 7 per cent (year-on-year) in the December-quarter, against 11 per cent in the preceding quarter. Total deposits witnessed 11 per cent growth including one-time deposits inflow of $2 billion raised via the FCNR (B) route.

Bad loans Bad loans (or non-performing assets), in net terms, worsened to ₹3,118 crore compared to ₹2,182 crore at December 31, 2012.

“The NPAs were largely from the corporate and the SME (small and medium enterprise) segment…Our restructured pipeline will be around ₹3,000 crore, going forward,” Kochhar said.

The restructured assets stood at ₹8,602 crore as on December 31, 2013, up 26 per cent over the previous quarter. ICICI Bank shares fell in the last hour of trading to end weaker at ₹1,001.95 per share, down 1.69 per cent over the previous close on the BSE.

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