ICICI Bank March quarter net profit surges five-fold to Rs 2082.75 crore, bad loans spike to record high

ICICI Bank March quarter net profits witnessed a five-fold jump to Rs 2082.75 crores even as the asset quality worsened with bad loans spiking to record highs.  

Starting on a positive note, the stock extended gains by 8.76 per cent to Rs 296.65 on BSE. On NSE, shares of the company zoomed 8.72 per cent to Rs 296.55.

Largest private sector lender ICICI Bank yesterday reported a five-fold jump in its March quarter profit at Rs 2,082.75 crore, but the asset quality woes which had dented its bottomline year-ago, continued to persist.

On a standalone basis, profit soared to Rs 2,024.64 crore from Rs 701.89 crore in the year-ago period but was down from Rs 2,441 crore in the December quarter.

The gross non-performing assets ratio shot up to 7.89 per cent from 5.21 per cent in the year-ago period and 7.20 per cent in the December quarter. The total provisions went down to Rs 2,898.22 crore from Rs 3,326.21 crore in the year- ago period and provision coverage ratio dipped to 53.6 per cent from 61 per cent in the year-ago period.

The surge in the bank's stock price was also on account of the government's decision to bring an ordinance to empower the Reserve Bank to effectively deal with the problem of mounting bad loans in the banking sector.

A proposal to amend Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act through the ordinance route was approved by the Cabinet.