ICICI Q3 Net jumps 77.5 pc to Rs 2,039 cr

Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) Private sector lender ICICI Banktoday reported a whopping 77.5 per cent jump in consolidatedprofit to Rs 2,039 crore for the third quarter, driven by risein interest income and fall in provisioning for bad loans.

The bank had a consolidated profit of Rs 1,149 croreduring the October-December quarter of the last fiscal.

On standalone basis, net profit of the bank increased by30.5 per cent to Rs 1,437 crore during the quarter from Rs1,101 crore for the same period a year ago.

"This is the highest ever quarterly profit (standalone).

The impressive rise in bottomline is on the back of increasein interest income, lowering of provisions and creditexpansion," ICICI Bank Managing Director Chanda Kochhar said.

Net interest income increased by 12.3 per cent to Rs2,312 crore in the quarter from Rs 2,058 crore in the sameperiod in the previous year, she said, adding, fee incomeincreased 14.3 per cent to Rs 1,625 crore against 1,422 crore.

In a sign of its loan-book getting healthier, provisionsdecreased by 53.6 per cent to Rs 465 crore in the quartercompared to Rs 1,002 crore in the same period last fiscal.

The net interest margin (NIM) remained static at 2.6 percent in the third quarter, she said.

"We would try and maintain the current NIM in the fourthquarter (of 2010-11)," she added.

On the credit growth, Kochhar said advances increased by15.3 per cent on annual basis to Rs 2,06,692 crore as onDecember 31, 2010 from Rs 1,79,269 crore on December 31, 2009.

Credit demand has come from all the segments includingcorporate and retail mainly housing and car loans, she said,adding "as of now we are not doing two-wheeler loan".

At the same time, net non-performing assets decreased by34.9 per cent to Rs 2,873 crore at from Rs 4,416 crore atDecember 31, 2009.

The bank�s net non-performing asset ratio decreased to1.16 per cent at the end of third quarter of the currentfiscal from 2.19 per cent at December 31, 2009.

The total income on standalone basis of the bankincreased to Rs 8,444.7 crore during the quarter, from Rs7,762.7 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

The share of the cheaper CASA (Current and SavingsAccount) deposits in the total liability pie increased to 44.2per cent as on December 30 against 39.6 per cent in the at theend of December previous fiscal, Kochhar said, adding the bankexpects to maintain it at that level. .