ICICI Bank Stand-Alone Net Profit Increases 25%; Demand From Retail Customers Driving Loan Growth, CEO Kochhar Says
MUMBAI--India's ICICI Bank Ltd. Wednesday topped market estimates with a 25% jump in its fiscal-first-quarter stand-alone net profit, aided by strong demand for loans and income from trading.</br></br>Net profit for the April-June period increased to 22.74 billion rupees from 18.15 billion rupees a year earlier, the country's second-largest bank by assets said in a filing with stock exchanges.</br></br>The bank was expected to report a profit of 22.27 billion rupees, according to estimate of 28 analysts polled by FactSet, a financial data provider.</br></br>ICICI Bank expects loans to grow 16%-17% in the current financial year through March, mostly driven by demand from individual, or retail, customers, Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar told reporters on a conference call. "There are no real [loan] applications for new projects" from companies, she said.</br></br>Increased focus on retail loans has helped nonstate lenders like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank Ltd. post strong results. Demand for such loans to buy vehicles and homes is still strong despite an economic slowdown in India.