ICICI Bank Q4 net profit up 10% at Rs2,922 crore

ICICI Bank, the country's largest private lender, has reported a 10 per cent increase in its standalone net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 2015 at Rs2,922 crore against a net profit of Rs2,652 crore in the year-ago quarter.

ICICI Bank said despite some pressure on asset quality, a 17 per cent increase in net interest income (the difference between interest earned and expended) to Rs5,079 crore during the January-March 2015 quarter compared with Rs4,357 crore in Q4FY14.

Non-interest income during the quarter increased 17 per cent to Rs3,496 crore (from Rs2,976 crore in Q4FY14) driven by treasury income and gains through dividend from subsidiaries.

Provisioning for bad assets and other high-risk loans surged 88 per cent to Rs1,344 crore in Q4FY15 from Rs714 crore in the fourth quarter a year ago.

''FY15 was the peak as far as NPAs, restructured assets, and credit costs are concerned. We expect FY16 to do better than FY15,'' said Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO of ICICI Bank.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) worsened to 3.78 per cent of total assets as of end-March 2015 compared with 3.03 per cent as of end-March 2014. Net NPAs also increased to 1.61 per cent from 0.97 per cent, ICICI Bank said.

The bank's total advances grew 14 per cent year-on-year to Rs3,87,000 crore as of 31 March 2015 from Rs3,39,000 crore as of end-March 2014.

ICIVI Bank reported a 25 per cent growth in retail advances and a 10 per cent growth in corporate loans. Home loans grew over 26 per cent, while auto loans grew by 24 per cent.

''We saw good demand for working capital loans from rated companies and funding to public sector companies,'' Kochhar told analysts at a conference call.

Net interest margin for the quarter improved to 3.57 per cent against 3.46 per cent, while for the year the NIM rose to 3.48 per cent from 3.33 per cent in FY14.

''We expect to maintain margins in the current range…About 25 per cent of the restructured assets are because they failed to meet the norms…The restructuring pipeline is at Rs1,500 crore going forward,'' the ICICI chief added.

Total deposits of the bank increased by 9 per cent year-on-year to Rs3,61,000 crore. The bank expects credit growth to be 18-20 per cent and deposit growth to be 15-16 per cent for FY16, Kochhar said.

For the full year, net profit rose 14 per cent at Rs11,175 crore against Rs9,810 crore in FY14.

Net interest income increased 16 per cent to Rs19,040 crore in FY15 from Rs16,475 crore in FY14. Non-interest income increased by 17 per cent to Rs12,176 crore in FY15 from Rs10,428 crore last year.

Provisions jumped 49 per cent to Rs3,900 crore during the year compared to Rs2,626 crore last year.

On a consolidated basis, net profit increased 13 per cent at Rs3,085 crore for the quarter and 11 per cent at Rs 12,247 crore for the full year.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (ICICI Life) achieved profit after tax of Rs1,634 crore ($261 million) for FY15 against Rs1,567 crore in FY14.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company reported a net profit of Rs536 crore in FY2015 against Rs511 crore in FY14.

The bank's board has proposed a dividend of Rs5 per share of face value of Rs2 each for FY15.