ICICI Bank second quarter profit plunges 28% to Rs 655 cr; lender's asset quality improves at 6.37%

ICICI Bank, the country's second-largest private lender, reported a 28 percent fall in net profit at Rs 655 crore in the quarter ended 30 September due to a one-time charge related to deferred taxes.

The bank's net profit stood at Rs 909 crore in the second quarter of the previous year, reported Reuters.

The private bank missed its second quarter net profit estimates due to higher tax expenses of  Rs 3,712 crore.

Representational image. AFP

"Excluding the impact of one-time additional charge due to re-measurement of accumulated deferred tax, profit after tax would have been Rs 3,575 crore in Q2FY20 compared with Rs 909 crore in Q2FY19,” ICICI Bank said in a release.

Asset quality of ICICI Bank improved with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) at 6.37 percent as compared to 8.54 percent in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Net NPA also improved to 1.60 percent as compared to 1.77 percent during the previous quarter of this fiscal.

Consequently, provisioning for bad loans and contingencies fell to Rs 2,506 crore for July-September 2019, as against Rs 3,994 crore a year earlier.

Net interest margin, a key indicator of bank profitability, stood at 3.64 percent.

Total consolidated income rose 17.26 per cent to Rs 37,424.78 crore during the period under review, as against Rs 31,914.82 crore in the corresponding period of 2018-19, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

The bank remains well-capitalised with a capital adequacy ratio of 16.14 percent at the end of September.

On Friday, shares of ICICI Bank settled 3.18 percent higher at Rs 469.10. It hit an all-time high of Rs 470.70 intraday.

— With inputs from agencies