Mumbai, April 27: ICICI Bank today beat analyst estimates by posting a 31 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 1,902 crore for the quarter ended March against Rs 1,452 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
The profit rise has been attributed to a rise in non-interest income and a strong loan growth.
Analysts had expected a net profit growth of around 20 per cent.
A strong loan growth saw net interest income (NII) rising to Rs 3,105 crore from Rs 2,510 crore a year ago. NII is the interest earned on advances minus the interest paid.
Net interest margin increased to 3.01 per cent from 2.74 per cent, while non-interest income jumped to Rs 2,228 crore from Rs 1,641 crore.
The bank recorded a 17 per cent growth in advances at Rs 253,728 crore against Rs 216,366 crore in the year- ago period.
Savings account deposits stood at Rs 76,046 crore, while current account deposits were Rs 34,973 crore.
The CASA ratio ' the proportion of current account and savings account deposits to total deposits ' stood at 43.5 per cent at the end of March against 43.6 per cent on December 31.
As on March 31, the bank had 2,752 branches, the largest among private lenders in the country.
Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) came down to Rs 9,475.33 crore from Rs 10,034.26 crore and net NPAs stood at around Rs 1,861 crore against Rs 2,407.36 crore in the same period a year ago. This resulted in a fall in the percentage of net NPAs to net advances to 0.73 per cent from 1.11 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010-11.
On a consolidated basis, net profit grew to Rs 1,810.27 crore from Rs 1,568 crore in the year-ago period.
However, the bank's subsidiary ' ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company ' suffered a loss of Rs 613.28 crore during the quarter and Rs 416.33 crore for the financial year because of a change in third-party motor insurance norms by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.
The board of directors has recommended a dividend of Rs 16.50 per share for the year.
The better-than-expected performance led to the ICICI Bank's scrip rising 2.28 per cent, or Rs 19.20, to end at Rs 860.75 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.
