Kamath: Aiming high

Mumbai, April 29: ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector bank, has posted a 29 per cent growth in net profit for the fourth quarter of the year ended March 31, 2006, boosted by a strong rise in its non-interest income apart from core operations. Net profit for the period grew to Rs 790 crore against Rs 615 crore in the same period last year.

The bank’s net interest income (NII), which captures revenues from core operations, rose 54 per cent to Rs 1,216 crore from Rs 790 crore in the last fiscal.

However, its non-interest income gained 72 per cent to Rs 1,266 crore from Rs 736 crore. While a large part of this non-interest income was accounted by fee income at Rs 1,050 crore against Rs 585 crore in the previous fiscal, the sale of its stake in Federal Bank and South Indian Bank also contributed to the strong growth in bottomline.

One of the key highlights of the year was the robust growth in loans across businesses. ICICI Bank said during the year, rural and agricultural portfolio increased to Rs 16,279 crore from Rs 7,495 crore. This apart, loan portfolio of international branches increased to Rs 12,524 crore and the retail portfolio shot up to Rs 92,198 crore from Rs 56,134 crore during 2004-05.

After declaring the annual results, K.V. Kamath, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, said though the bank has identified rural banking as the next growth horizon, there has been a strong revival on the corporate front. Consumer banking has not slowed down either. “We are looking for growth in a balanced way,” he added.

For the year ended March 31, ICICI Bank saw its net profit rising 27 per cent to Rs 2,540 crore from Rs 2,005 crore a year ago. Its net interest income gained 48 per cent to Rs 4,187 crore from Rs 2,839 crore. Total assets of the bank during the year increased by 50 per cent to Rs 2,51,389 crore from Rs 1,67,659 crore in the previous year.

Total advances were placed at Rs 1,46,163 crore, a 60 per cent rise. The bank’s total retail disbursements were to the tune of Rs 62,700 crore, including home loan disbursements of around Rs 25,700 crore. Retail assets constituted about 63 per cent of the advances.

At its meeting held today, the bank’s board of directors elevated Kalpana Morparia from deputy managing director to joint managing director.

Chanda Kochhar and Nachiket Mor have been promoted from executive directors to deputy managing directors.

The board also recommended a dividend of 85 per cent (Rs 8.50 per share) for the year.