ICICI Bank net profit drops

ICICI Bank's consolidated net profit dropped 27.4 percent to Rs 651.48 crore in the July-September quarter, although total income grew by nearly 13 percent to Rs 15,590.46 crore.

The consolidated figures include results for the bank as well as its subsidiaries, including ICICI Bank UK, and insurance, brokerage and mutual fund businesses.

On standalone basis, the country's top private sector lender said profit after tax rose to Rs 1,014 crore, up by a modest 1.1 percent on a year-on-year basis.

The bank's unconsolidated total income rose to Rs 9,712.13 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 9,588.41 crore in the same period last year.

The company's core operating profit rose to Rs 2,437 crore in Q2-2009, from Rs 1,712 crore in year-ago period.

The bank said that its operating expenses dropped by 12 percent due to its cost-rationalisation measures and its capital adequacy ratio currently stands at 14.01 percent.

The bank said that its current and savings account deposits rose 16 percent to Rs 66,914 crore at the end of September quarter, up from Rs 57,827 crore a year ago.

However, its total deposits fell marginally on a year-on-basis due to reduction in term deposits, the bank said.

The bank and its subsidiaries have entirely exited their non-India linked credit derivatives portfolio at no incremental loss over and above the provisions already made.

ICICI Bank UK's profit before mark-to-market impact and provision on investments was USD 43 million for H1-2009. After the provisioning charge related to its investment portfolio, including the MTM impact of credit spread widening during the period, ICICI Bank UK reported a net loss of USD 35 million.

"ICICI Bank UK's capital position continued to be strong with a capital adequacy ratio of 18.4 percent at September 30, 2008," it noted, adding that ICICI Bank UK had zero net non-performing assets at the end of the quarter.

ICICI Bank Canada's profit after tax for the six months ended September 30 was 22 million Canadian dollars.

The bank's net interest income rose by 20 percent to Rs 2,148 crore, while fee income increased by 26 percent to Rs 1,876 crore.

The bank said that it has expanded its network to 1,400 branches and 4,530 ATMs. The consolidated advances of the bank, its banking subsidiaries and ICICI Home Finance Company increased by 16 percent to Rs 264,665 crore.

ICICI Bank's NRI remittance volumes increased by 38.2 percent to Rs 11,946 crore.

On a standalone basis, the bank's net non-performing advances rose to Rs 4,232.9 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 2,970.9 crore in the year-ago period. The bank said that specific provisions for NPAs, excluding the impact of farm loan waiver, were Rs 868 crore in the second quarter compared to Rs 878 crore in the previous quarter