ICICI Bank’s profit after tax grew 17.4 per cent on year and 4.2 per cent on quarter to ₹10,708 crore in Q4 FY24 on the back of strong loan growth and controlled asset quality.

Total advances increased 16.2 per cent y-o-y and 2.7 per cent q-o-q to ₹11.8-lakh crore, of which domestic loans were at ₹11.5 lakh crore — 16.8 per cent higher on year. The retail loan portfolio was up 19.4 y-o-y and 3.7 per cent q-o-q to ₹6.6-lakh crore, comprising 54.9 per cent of total loans.

In the earnings call, Executive Director Sandeep Batra said the bank continues to monitor and recalibrate the product mix of the retail portfolio based on risk parameters such as ticket size and bureau score. As such, loan growth for the segment has moderated to 32.5 per cent in Q4 from 37 per cent in the previous quarter, which is in-line with the market.

On the corporate side, sequential loan growth was muted due to repayments by some large PSU NBFCs, however, as a whole the bank remains “happy” with growth in its focus segments, Batra said adding that while government spending continues to lead capex growth, the bank hopes to attract more private capex in FY25.

Business banking loans rose 29.3 per cent on year, SME loans by 24.6 per cent, rural portfolio 17.2 per cent, and domestic corporate loans by 10.0 per cent.

ICICI Bank’s outstanding exposure to NBFCs accounted for 6.5 per cent of total loans at around ₹77,000 crore as on March 31. This was lower than ₹78,000 crore a quarter ago and about ₹82,000 crore in the year ago period.

Other metrics

Gross NPA ratio declined to 2.16 per cent on March 31 from 2.30 per cent a year ago. Net NPA ratio declined to 0.42 per cent from 0.44 per cent in the previous quarter and 0.48 per cent in the previous year.

Net interest income (NII) increased 8.1 per cent y-o-y to ₹19,093 crore for the reporting quarter. Net interest margin (NIM) was 4.40 per cent lower than 4.43 per cent in the previous quarter and 4.90 per cent a year ago.

The NIM for FY24 was 4.53 per cent, which compares similarly to 4.48 per cent for FY23, Batra said, adding that the objective continues to be maximising profitability. The bank will continue to reprice deposits and price its lending opportunities in an “appropriate way”, as a result of which margins should remain range-bound in FY25.

“Going ahead, we do expect RBI to undertake a shallow rate cut and we will see how growth pans along the course of the year,” Batra said, adding the fall in margins has off-set some of the benefits from the strong loan growth.

The bank incurred a treasury loss of ₹281 crore in Q4 due to transfer of negative balance of ₹340 crore in Foreign Currency Translation Reserve related to the Offshore Unit that is proposed to be closed.

Deposits grew 19.6 per cent y-o-y and 6 per cent q-o-q to ₹14.1-lakh crore. CASA deposits grew 10.1 per cent to ₹5.9-lakh crore, with average CASA ratio of 38.9 per cent. Term deposits were up 27.7 per cent on year and 1.6 per cent on quarter to ₹8.2-lakh crore.

Batra said that the bank will not be “raising deposits at any cost” but expects to continue to see sustained deposit growth.

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