More Stories

Informist, Saturday, Apr. 18, 2026

 

Please click here to read all liners published on this story

--Jan-Mar net profit INR 137.02 bln
--Analysts saw ICICI Bank Jan-Mar net profit at INR 127.97 bln
--Jan-Mar net profit INR 137.02 bln vs INR 126.30 bln yr ago
--Jan-Mar total income INR 505.84 bln vs INR 496.91 bln yr ago
--FY26 net profit INR 501.47 bln vs INR 472.27 bln yr ago
--Renews fund raise limit of INR 250 bln via debt
--Renews overseas fund raise limit of $1.5 bln via debt
--FY26 total income INR 2.01 tln vs INR 1.92 tln yr ago
--Jan-Mar provisions INR 961.6 mln vs INR 8.91 bln year ago
--Gross NPA ratio 1.40% on Mar 31 vs 1.53% qtr ago
--Net NPA ratio 0.33% on Mar 31 vs 0.37% qtr ago
--Basel-III capital adequacy ratio 17.18% on Mar 31
--Total deposits at INR 17.95 tln Mar 31, up 11.4% YoY
--Total advances at INR 15.54 tln Mar 31, up 15.8% on yr
--Jan-Mar net interest margin at 4.32% vs 4.30% quarter ago
--Jan-Mar net interest income INR 229.79 bln, up 8.4% on year
--Provision coverage ratio 75.8% on Mar 31
--To pay INR 12 per share dividend

 

By Priyasmita Dutta

 

NEW DELHI – Beating the Street's view by a wide margin, ICICI Bank Ltd. posted an 8.5% rise in its net profit for the March quarter, with the sharpest ever fall in provisions, data available with Informist showed. This is entirely against the Street's view, with analysts expecting provisions for the quarter to rise by 11-79% on year.

 

The private sector lender posted a net profit of INR 137.02 billion for the quarter, way higher than analysts' expectations of INR 127.97 billion. Sequentially, the net profit was up 21%, the highest sequential rise in net profit in 22 quarters. Provisions, at INR 962 million, were down 89% on year and 96% sequentially.

Provisions for the quarter were sharply down due to the additional standard asset provisioning of INR 12.83 billion that the large private sector bank had to do last quarter. The Reserve Bank of India had directed the lender to make a standard asset provision for its agricultural priority sector loans due to non-compliance with the regulation for classification. Due to this, ICICI Bank's net profit had fallen 4% on year in the December quarter to INR 113.18 billion, for the first time in over six years.

 

As such, in the March quarter, ICICI Bank's total income was up 1.8% on year at INR 505.84 billion, the weakest rise in 19 quarters. Despite the lacklustre total income, the bank's net interest income was robust, as interest expense fell sharply during the quarter. The net interest income was up over 8% on year at INR 229.79 billion, lending support to the bottom line. The bank's net interest income for the quarter was also higher than the consensus estimate of INR 226.07 billion.

 

ICICI Bank's total advances at the end of the March quarter were INR 15.54 trillion, up 16% on year and 6% on quarter. Even this was higher than analysts' view, who estimated the lender's credit growth at 14.0-14.5% on year. Of the INR-15.54-trillion loan book, the retail loan portfolio grew 10% year-on-year and 4% sequentially, and comprised 50.4% of the total loan portfolio as of Mar. 31.

 

The domestic advances grew 15% year-on-year and 6% sequentially at the end of March, the bank said in a press release. Deposits, in the meantime, grew 11% on year and 8% sequentially to INR 17.95 trillion at the end of March. The average current and savings account deposits increased by 11% on year and 3% sequentially, the bank said. Its average current account and savings account ratio was 38.6% at the end of the March quarter.

 

With the addition of 126 branches during Jan-Mar and 528 branches in 2025-26 (Apr-Mar), the bank had a network of 7,511 branches at the end of March, it said. For FY26, the bank reported a net profit of INR 501.47 billion, up over 6% from the previous year. Its total income for the year was INR 2.01 trillion, up 5%.

 

The bank's Basel-III-compliant capital adequacy ratio at the end of March was 17.18%, higher than 16.55% at the end of March last year, and 15.59% end of the trailing quarter.

 

As expected, ICICI Bank's net interest margin was broadly unchanged from the quarter-ago levels during Jan-Mar. ICICI Bank's net interest margin rose by 2 basis points to 4.32% from 4.30% in the December quarter. However, it was over 10 bps lower on year.

 

The margin remained at the same level sequentially as the RBI's 100-bps reduction in banks' cash reserve ratio to 3%, coupled with term deposit repricing, helped reduce the cost of funds, but that was offset by a full repricing of the repo rate cuts. The central bank had, in June, cut banks' CRR by 100 bps in four equal tranches between September and November. The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee had lowered the repo rate by 125 bps in 2025, the most in a calendar year since 2019, and has held it at 5.25% since then.

 

Following the reduction, the bank's yield on advances fell 21 bps from a quarter ago to 8.87% in Jan-Mar, while the cost of deposits was down 12 bps sequentially to 4.43%. ICICI Bank's cost-to-income ratio rose to 39.9% in the March quarter from 37.9% in Jan-Mar last year, but fell from 40.8% end of the December quarter.

 

It should be noted that ICICI Bank reported a treasury loss of INR 1.06 billion in the March quarter, compared to a loss of INR 1.57 billion in Oct-Dec and a gain of INR 2.39 billion in the March quarter last year. Treasury primarily includes the entire investment and derivatives portfolio of the bank.

 

The bank's provisions, a fall in which added to the bottom line, reflect healthy asset quality and higher recoveries and write-backs, the bank said in the press release. At the end of March, the bank continued to hold a contingency provision of INR 131 billion and an additional standard asset provision of INR 12.83 billion made in Oct-Dec. The provision coverage ratio was 75.8% as on Mar. 31, marginally higher than 75.4% a quarter ago but lower than 76.2% a year ago.

 

The bank's asset quality improved with gross non-performing asset ratio falling by 27 bps on year and 13 bps on quarter to 1.40% as on Mar. 31. The net non-performing asset ratio also shrank marginally to 0.33% as on Mar. 31, from 0.37% end of December and 0.39% end of March last year.

 

Contrary to the bank's claims, its recoveries, upgrades and others were lower in the March quarter at INR 30.68 billion, compared to INR 32.82 billion in the December quarter and INR 38.17 billion a year ago. Write-offs decreased to INR 17.68 billion in Jan-Mar from INR 21.18 billion a year ago and INR 20.46 billion a quarter ago.

 

The bank's board also renewed its fund-raising limit of INR 250 billion via debt securities for the year, and renewed the overseas fund-raising limit of $1.5 billion through debt. The board also recommended a dividend of INR 12 per share. On Friday, shares of the bank ended almost flat at INR 1,346.80 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.