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ICICI Bank's Q4 profit drops by close to half as bad loans rise

Agencies
Delhi, IndiaUpdated: May 07, 2018, 07:16 PM IST
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File photo. Photograph:(Zee News Network)

ICICI Bank Ltd, India's third-largest lender by assets, said its fourth-quarter net profit almost halved, missing expectations, as provisions for bad loans surged.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans stood at 8.84 per cent at the end of March compared with 7.82 per cent at the end of the previous quarter and 7.89 per cent a year earlier.

Net profit for the three months to March 31 fell to 10.20 billion rupees on Monday.  

That compared with the average 10.77 billion rupees forecast of 12 analysts, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Net interest income for the quarter was up 1 per cent on the year to 60.22 billion rupees, while net interest margin was at 3.24 per cent.

Shares of the Mumbai-based lender, which started trading in 1998, ended 2.5 per cent higher ahead of the results, outperforming a slightly higher main market. 

The results come against the backdrop of a series of allegations of impropriety in ICICI Bank's extending loans to some companies and enjoying reciprocal benefits by the family members of the bank's CEO Chanda Kochhar.