Sandeep Bakhshi, ICICI Bank: Aims to grow core operating profit

Mumbai: ICICI Bank, a leading private sector bank, reported a 37% YoY growth in its net profit to ₹ 7,558 crore in Q2-2023. The core operating profit grew by 24% YoY to ₹ 11,765 crore in Q2-2023. The Bank reported a 26% YoY jump in net interest income (NII) at ₹ 14,787 crore in Q2 2023 while net interest margin (NIM) grew to 4.31% from 4.00% a year ago.  

Sandeep Bakhshi, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank, said at the analysts’ call: “We aim to grow the core operating profit in a risk-calibrated manner by focusing on ecosystems and micro-markets. We will work as one team by facilitating cross-functional collaboration to tap into key customer and market segments, enabling 360-degree coverage and increase in wallet share.”  

Credit Growth:

Overall loan portfolio for ICICI Bank grew by 23% YoY. The retail loan portfolio grew by 25% YoY which comprised 54% of the total loan portfolio at September 30, 2022. The business banking portfolio grew by 43% YOY while the SME business (comprising borrowers with a turnover of less than 250 crore) grew by 27% YoY. The domestic corporate portfolio and the rural portfolio grew by 23% YoY and by 12% YoY respectively. Total advances increased by 23% YOY and 5% sequentially to ₹ 938,563 crore at September 30, 2022. 

Growth in Deposits: 

The Bank’s average current account and savings account (CASA) deposits increased by 16% YoY in Q2-2023 and the average CASA ratio was 45.0% in Q2-2023. Term deposits increased by 11% YoY to ₹ 582,168 crore while total deposits increased by 12% YoY to ₹ 1,090,008 crore at September 30, 2022. The Bank had a network of 5,614 branches and 13,254 ATMs at September 30, 2022.

Digital initiatives:

Sandeep Bakhshi said, “We continue to enhance our digital offerings and platforms to on-board new customers in a seamless manner and provide them end-to-end digital journeys and personalised solutions. These platforms also enable us to do cross sell and up sell”, added Bakhshi.  

There have been 80 lakh activations from non-ICICI Bank account holders of iMobile Pay, a super app that offers payment and banking services to customers of any bank. Total transactions through iMobile Pay have surged to 4.4 times, while Scan to Pay transactions by non-ICICI Bank customers by value have surged to 22.4 times in Q2 2023 over Q2 2022.  

Being the market leader in electronic toll collection through FASTag, ICICI Bank had a market share of about 31% by value in Q1-2023, with a 20% YoY growth in collections. 

The value of financial transactions has grown by 23% YoY on InstaBIZ, the Bank’s mobile application for businesses, in Q2-2023. There have been about 195,000 registrations from non-ICICI Bank account holders on InstaBIZ, while the Bank has acquired 85,300 new-to-bank merchants registered for collections on InstaBIZ, until September 30, 2022. 

The Bank has created more than 20 industry specific STACKs which provide digital solutions to corporate clients and their ecosystems. The Bank’s Trade Online and Trade Emerge platforms allow customers to perform most of their trade finance and foreign exchange transactions digitally. About 70% of trade transactions were done digitally in Q2 of this year and the value of transactions done through these platforms increased by 70% Y-o-Y in Q2 of this year.

The value of credit card spends in Q2-2023 grew by 4% sequentially and 43% Y-o-Y. The Bank has issued more than 3.5 million Amazon Pay credit cards since its launch.

Asset quality: 

ICICI Bank’s asset quality improved further with increase recoveries and upgrades, and decline in NPA additions during the quarter. The gross NPA ratio declined to 3.19% at September 30, 2022 from 3.41% at June 30, 2022 and 4.82% at September 30, 2021. The net NPA ratio declined to 0.61% at September 30, 2022 from 0.70% at June 30, 2022 and 0.99% at September 30, 2021.  

Provision coverage was 80.6% at September 30, 2022, compared to the previous quarter at 79.6%. Excluding NPAs, the total fund based outstanding to all borrowers declined to ₹ 6,713 crore at September 30, 2022 from ₹ 7,376 crore in the last quarter. 

Sandeep Bakhshi, ICICI Bank added, “We will continue to make investments in technology, people, distribution and building our brand. We focus on building a culture where every employee in the Bank serves customers with humility and upholds the values of brand ICICI.” 

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