(Reuters) -ICICI Bank, India’s second-largest private lender by market capitalisation, beat quarterly profit forecasts on Saturday, helped by healthy loan growth resulting in higher core lending income.
The bank’s standalone net profit rose 15.5% to 127.68 billion Indian rupees ($1.48 billion) in the April-to-June quarter, above the average analyst forecast of 120.24 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Net interest income increased by 10.6% year-on-year to 216.35 billion rupees in the quarter.
While credit growth has slowed across the industry, ICICI Bank posted 12% growth in its loan book, driven mainly by a 29.7% rise in loans to businesses.
ICICI Bank’s net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, fell to 4.34%, from 4.36% a year earlier and 4.41% in the previous quarter, due to the Indian central bank’s recent rate cut actions.
When rates are lowered, lenders typically pass on the advantage to borrowers first and only later cut deposit rates, which temporarily squeezes their margins.
ICICI’s asset quality, meanwhile, improved, with the gross non-performing assets ratio at 1.67% at the end of June, versus 2.15% in the same period last year.
Indian lenders have kept a tight lid on unsecured lending, after grappling with higher bad loans in the segment, a move that has supported asset quality.
ICICI Bank’s provisions for bad loans rose 36.2% year-on-year to 18.15 billion rupees.
($1 = 86.1450 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Ashwin Manikandan; Editing by Joe Bavier)
