ICICI Bank Q4 NII up 24% at Rs 3105 cr

By Gopika Gopakumar, CNBC-TV18

Aided by higher interest income and other income growth, India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on Friday reported a forecast beating 31% year-on-year jump in its fourth quarter (Jan-March) net profit at Rs 1,902 crore. Net interest income (NII) or the difference between interest earned and paid out rose 24% to Rs 3,105 crore. Loan book expanded by 17% y-o-y to Rs 2.54 lakh crore. However, it was a muted growth at just 3% during the Jan-March period, the peak of so-called busy season (Oct-March). Consequently, the net interest margin (NIM) rose to 3.01% from 2.70% in the previous quarter.  Other income climbed 17% to Rs 2,228 crore. "Profit has come from stable and good improvement in the net interest income," Chanda Kochhar, MD, ICICI Bank said in a concall. "It was all organic growth unlike in FY11. Both corporate and retail loans added to our loan expansions. Retail book grew by 8% while corporate loans rose 26%. Our domestic loans will grow by 20% in FY13. However, it is difficult to predict the growth of our international loan book." However, deposits grew at a slower pace at around 13% y-o-y to Rs 2.55 lakh crore during the quarter.  In FY2010-11, the bank had acquired the Bank of Rajasthan. During the quarter, the bank's net non-performing (NPA) ratio improved to 0.62% compared with 0.94% in Q3, FY12. Gross NPA ratio too fell from 1.11% to 0.73%.