Sandeep Bakhshi: ICICI Bank continues to make investments in technology, people, distribution, and building the brand

Mumbai: ICICI Bank, a leading private lender reported a 30% growth in profit after tax to ₹9,122 crore in Q4 FY23 compared to ₹7,019 crore for the same period a year ago. The Net Interest Income (NII) jumped 40% year-on-year to ₹17,667 crore in Q4 FY23 against ₹12,605 crore in Q4 FY22. The Bank recorded an all-time high in Net Interest Margin (NIM), which stood at 4.9% for the quarter that ended March 2023.

The core operating profit, that is, profit before provisions and tax, excluding treasury income, grew by 36.4% year-on-year to ₹13,866 crore in Q4-2023.

Sandeep Bakhshi, MD & CEO at ICICI Bank said “We continue to enhance our digital offerings and platforms to on-board new customers in a seamless manner, provide them end-to-end digital journeys and personalised solutions and enable a more effective data-driven to cross-sell and upsell.”

Loan and Deposit growth

The Bank's overall loan portfolio experienced an 18.7% year-on-year increase and 4.7% sequentially to ₹10,19,639 crore, while the domestic loan portfolio grew by 20.5% compared to the previous year. Retail loans comprised 54.7% of the total loan portfolio, and they grew by 22.7% year-on-year and the rural loan portfolio expanded by 13.8% year-on-year. The business banking portfolio grew by 34.9% year-on-year and SME business, comprising borrowers with a turnover of less than ₹250 crore, grew by 19.2% as of March 31, 2023.

At the end of FY23, 73.5% of the overall loan portfolio, excluding retail and rural, was rated A- or above.

The Bank’s total deposits increased by 10.9% year-on-year to ₹11,80,841 crore, while period-end term deposits increased by 17.1% year-on-year to ₹6,39,579 crore. Average current account deposits and average savings account deposits increased by 9.3% and 7.5% year-on-year in Q4-2023 respectively. The average current account and savings account ratio was 43.6% in Q4 FY23. 

Asset Quality

In Q4 FY23, the Bank's net NPA declined to 0.48% from 0.55% in the previous quarter and 0.76% as of March 31, 2022. While the Gross NPA decreased to 2.81% from 3.07% in the last quarter. As of March 31, 2023, the provisioning coverage ratio for NPAs was 82.8%.

The total fund based outstanding to all customers declined to ₹ 4,508 crore on March 31, 2023, from ₹ 4,987 crore as of December 31, 2022. Recoveries and upgrades of NPAs excluding write-offs and sales were ₹ 4,283 crore in Q4 2023.

During the quarter, the Bank made provisions of ₹1,619 crore, which is about 11.7% of the core operating profit and 0.7% of the average advances. This includes contingency provisions of ₹1,600 crore, which were made on a prudent basis. As of March 31, 2023, the Bank held contingency provisions of ₹13,100 crore.

In Q4 2023, the standalone return on equity for the Bank was 18.9%. As of March 31, 2023, the bank's net worth, including FY23 profits and proposed dividends, was over ₹2,00,000 crore, and its CET ratio was 17.12%. Additionally, the Tier-1 ratio was 17.6%, and the total capital adequacy ratio was 18.34%.

ICICI Bank expanded its branch network by opening 480 new branches, bringing the total to 5,900 branches and 16,650 ATMs and cash recycling machines across India during FY 2023. The bank also hired 23,200 new employees in the last 12 months, bringing the total number of employees to 129,000 as of March 31, 2023. 

Sandeep Bakhshi said, “We will continue to make investments in technology, people, distribution, and building our brand. We will remain focused on maintaining a strong balance sheet with prudent provisioning and healthy levels of capital. We remain focused on delivering consistent and predictable returns to our shareholders.”

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