ICICI Q3 net up 3.4%
ICICI Q3 net up 3.4%
Mumbai: ICICI Bank, the country’s second-largest lender, reported an unexpected 3.4% rise in quarterly net profit on Saturday, as earnings from fees and bond trading offset slowing credit growth and a rise in bad loans.
New York-listed ICICI said net profit rose to Rs12.72 billion in its fiscal third quarter ending in December, from Rs12.3 billion reported a year ago.
A Reuters poll of analysts had forecast net profit to fall to Rs10.7 billion.
ICICI, hit by investor concerns about its exposure to the global financial crisis in the quarter to September, has slowed lending as it tackles a jump in bad loans.
Shares in ICICI, which has a market value of about $8.3 billion, fell 16% in the quarter to December, compared with a 25% fall for the benchmark and a 16% drop in the sector index.
The stock closed 3.7% lower at Rs364.30 on Friday in a Mumbai market that fell 1.6%.
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