Mumbai: ICICI Bank, India's second-largest lender, posted a 30 per cent rise in quarterly profit, slightly below estimates, as strong credit growth and lower provisions for bad loans were offset by higher expenditure.
ICICI, also listed in New York, said net profit in April-June rose to 13.32 billion rupees ($302 million) from 10.26 billion a year ago.
Net interest income was 24.11 billion rupees, compared with 19.92 billion a year ago. A Reuters poll of analysts had forecast net profit of 14.2 billion rupees.
Earlier this month, India's third-biggest lender HDFC Bank posted a more than 30 per cent growth in net profit, beating forecasts.
Most lenders including HDFC Bank have seen a drop in net interest margins - a key gauge of profitability for banks - on a sequential or year-on-year basis on higher borrowing costs, but pressure on margins could ease in the coming quarters as banks pass on lending rate increases to customers.
The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday raised repo rate by a surprise 50 basis points to fight inflation. It also cut credit growth forecast for banks to 18 per cent from 19 per cent projected earlier.
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