ICICI Bank Q4 result ups net by 17%

“We had said two-years ago that the focus for FY 10 would be on consolidation. In FY 11,we resumed on growth and will continue with the same going ahead,” she said on a conference call here today.

For the first time in two-years,the bank’s retail loan-book grew and categories like car-loans and home-loans will be the “engines of growth” for the bank in the future,along with project finance,Kochar said.

In Q4 FY 11,the bank’s net interest income increased 23 per cent over the year-ago period to Rs 2,510-crore while fee-income grew 18 per cent at Rs 1,791-crore. Another factor contributing to the bottomline in Q4 was a 61 per cent decline in provisions at Rs 384-crore.

ICICI Bank achieved a loan growth of 19 per cent for FY 11 which it expects to go up at par with the industry average at 20 per cent for FY 12,Kochar said,adding it expects provisions to slide further during the fiscal.

It recorded an overall deposit growth of 26 per cent during the year.

The bank’s net interest margin was at 2.7 per cent for the quarter ended March 31 and Kochar said it will maintain the same going forward and improve on the number in the international markets.

The composition of the cheaper CASA (current and savings account) in the total deposit base,which has a direct bearing on margins,improved to 45.1 per cent from 41.7 per cent earlier.

The bank also reported an improvement on the asset quality front during the year with the net non-performing assets ratio going down to 0.94 per cent from last year’s 1.87 per cent. Its provision coverage ratio improved to 76 per cent,in line with the regulatory demands while the overall capital adequacy was at 19.54 per cent.

During FY 11,the bank’s advances to domestic corporates went up by 25 per cent,India-related advances in overseas branches were up 20 per cent while the retail book also went up marginally,Kochar said.

On the retail front,ICICI Bank will continue to sell its unsecured offerings like credit cards in FY 12 which it restarted during Q4 after a pause during the slowdown,Kochar said,specifying that it will be sold to select categories like those having salary or savings accounts with the bank.

She said on retail advances,the bank’s growth will be at par with that of industry this fiscal.

The bank’s operating expenses moved up during the quarter on the back of awarding of bonus and other employee related issues,Kochar said,adding it has already announced an average wage hike of 12 per cent for employees for FY 12 against 8 per cent earlier.