ICICI Bank’s Q1 net up 25% on treasury gains

India’s second-largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on Wednesday reported a 25% year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 2,274 crore in April-June, on the back of a huge Rs 403-crore gain from treasury income and a spurt in interest income and margins.

Net profit during the quarter beat analysts’ expectations of Rs 2,240 crore.

“We believe our loan growth will 17-18%, 2-3 percentage points higher than the industry,” CEO Chanda Kochhar said.

Net interest income (the difference between interest earned and interest paid) grew 20% to Rs 3,820 crore. Non-interest income rose 32% to Rs 2,484 crore.

The lender also witnessed deterioration in asset quality, as net non-performing asset (NPA) ratio stood at 0.69% on June 30, 2013 compared with 0.64% on March 31, 2013. Provisioning against bad loans rose to Rs 593 crore during the quarter, against Rs 466 crore a year ago.

“Despite weakness in operating environment, asset quality is in line with expectations,” Kochhar said.