ICICIBANKNSEJuly 24, 2025

ICICI Bank Limited

12,798words

141turns

20analyst exchanges

0executives

Key numbers — 40 extracted

10.6%

First of all on profit and capital A. Profit and capital 1. Net interest income increased by 10.6% year-on-year to ₹21,635 crore in Q1- 2026 2. Net interest margin was 4.34% in Q1-2026 compared t

₹21,635 crore

fit and capital A. Profit and capital 1. Net interest income increased by 10.6% year-on-year to ₹21,635 crore in Q1- 2026 2. Net interest margin was 4.34% in Q1-2026 compared to 4.41% in Q4-2025 and 4.36%

4.34%

t income increased by 10.6% year-on-year to ₹21,635 crore in Q1- 2026 2. Net interest margin was 4.34% in Q1-2026 compared to 4.41% in Q4-2025 and 4.36% in Q1-2025 3. Fee income grew by 7.5% year-on

4.41%

ear-on-year to ₹21,635 crore in Q1- 2026 2. Net interest margin was 4.34% in Q1-2026 compared to 4.41% in Q4-2025 and 4.36% in Q1-2025 3. Fee income grew by 7.5% year-on-year to ₹5,900 crore in Q1-2

4.36%

crore in Q1- 2026 2. Net interest margin was 4.34% in Q1-2026 compared to 4.41% in Q4-2025 and 4.36% in Q1-2025 3. Fee income grew by 7.5% year-on-year to ₹5,900 crore in Q1-2026 4. Core operating

7.5%

in was 4.34% in Q1-2026 compared to 4.41% in Q4-2025 and 4.36% in Q1-2025 3. Fee income grew by 7.5% year-on-year to ₹5,900 crore in Q1-2026 4. Core operating profit grew by 13.6% year-on-year to ₹1

₹5,900 crore

26 compared to 4.41% in Q4-2025 and 4.36% in Q1-2025 3. Fee income grew by 7.5% year-on-year to ₹5,900 crore in Q1-2026 4. Core operating profit grew by 13.6% year-on-year to ₹17,505 crore in Q1-2026 5. P

13.6%

Fee income grew by 7.5% year-on-year to ₹5,900 crore in Q1-2026 4. Core operating profit grew by 13.6% year-on-year to ₹17,505 crore in Q1-2026 5. Provisions (excluding provision for tax) were ₹1,815

₹17,505 crore

5% year-on-year to ₹5,900 crore in Q1-2026 4. Core operating profit grew by 13.6% year-on-year to ₹17,505 crore in Q1-2026 5. Provisions (excluding provision for tax) were ₹1,815 crore in Q1-2026. 6. Profit

₹1,815 crore

y 13.6% year-on-year to ₹17,505 crore in Q1-2026 5. Provisions (excluding provision for tax) were ₹1,815 crore in Q1-2026. 6. Profit before tax excluding treasury grew by 11.4% year-on-year to ₹15,690 crore

11.4%

provision for tax) were ₹1,815 crore in Q1-2026. 6. Profit before tax excluding treasury grew by 11.4% year-on-year to ₹15,690 crore in Q1-2026 7. Profit after tax grew by 15.5% year-on-year to ₹12,

₹15,690 crore

re ₹1,815 crore in Q1-2026. 6. Profit before tax excluding treasury grew by 11.4% year-on-year to ₹15,690 crore in Q1-2026 7. Profit after tax grew by 15.5% year-on-year to ₹12,768 crore in Q1-2026 8. Standa

Guidance — 20 items

Sandeep Batra

opening

“We expect to further strengthen system resilience and simplify processes.”

Sandeep Batra

opening

“The Bank continues to hold contingency provisions of ₹13,100 crore at June 30, 2025 Going forward, we will continue to operate within our strategic framework while focusing on micromarkets and ecosystems.”

Sandeep Batra

opening

“We aim to be the trusted financial services provider of choice for our customers and deliver sustainable returns to our shareholders.”

Sandeep Batra

opening

“I will be happy to take questions from you.”

Sandeep Batra

“We do expect the NIMs to sort of compress a little more in the next quarter.”

Sandeep Batra

“But we do believe that this portfolio has largely stabilised over the last few quarters and we can expect to improve gradually from where we are at this point of time.”

Sandeep Batra

“But within that framework, we do expect growth to happen in this segment.”

Varun Dubey

“And also just wanted to add one more thing, what will be the strategy to grow the overall deposit growth?”

Varun Dubey

“How much more will be passed on in the second quarter of FY26?”

Sandeep Batra

“Yes, in comparison to the current quarter, the impact of transmission of repo rate cuts on external benchmarks linked to loans is expected to be higher in the next quarter.”

Advertisement

Risks & concerns — 15 flagged

Maintaining high standards of governance, deepening coverage and enhancing delivery capabilities with a focus on simplicity and operational resilience, are key drivers for our risk calibrated profitable growth.

— Sandeep Batra

Yes, overall, the system loan growth, there's been a bit of a slowdown.

— Sandeep Batra

And some of the slowdown is because of competitive pricing, there has been a bit of a repayment, which has happened in the large corporate book.

— Sandeep Batra

Is it also that sort of the way rates have moved in the bond market, some of that, the corporate funding there and putting pressure on the overall loan growth numbers may not be for you, but broadly for the system?

— Ira Dugal

It’s difficult to call out what happens during the rest of the year.

— Sandeep Batra

So from our perspective, NIM is one of the levers that we have, and we will continue to focus on maximising risk calibrated profit by using various levers.

— Sandeep Batra

No, it's difficult to talk about momentum in the future.

— Sandeep Batra

Yes, on the corporate side, there is a bit of a competitive pressure.

— Sandeep Batra

During the quarter, we saw a decline in the short-term book, primarily driven by competitive pricing and some seasonal requirements of corporate.

— Sandeep Batra

As we talked about, there has been a general slowdown in the overall system as well.

— Sandeep Batra

We believe that the quality of the book that we have built is quite stable and we will continue to monitor this, and in case there are early signs of stress, we take proactive actions.

— Sandeep Batra

You just explained about the pressure in the rural side, which was slightly marginal.

— Varun Dubey

And rural, there has been a bit of a slowdown, which includes tightening of norms on the jewel loans also.

— Sandeep Batra

Sir, one last question just wanted to understand, because you said that going ahead, the net interest margin would decline further a little.

— Varun Dubey

Yes, in comparison to the current quarter, the impact of transmission of repo rate cuts on external benchmarks linked to loans is expected to be higher in the next quarter.

— Sandeep Batra

Q&A — 20 exchanges

Sir, you mentioned the credit card and personal loans the growth is below 2%. Just wanted to get a sense what the strategy is on these two portfolios? What are the industry trends suggesting, given there has been asset quality challenges? And additionally, on the fresh slippages, there has been about 5% increase Y-o-Y. Could you just give more details on the same? Which segment is it contributing? And is there any larger trend that's playing out at the time?

Sandeep Batra

No, nothing specific to call out here. I think we have been focusing on overall growth and overall 360 degree relationship with the customer. And clearly, from a customer point of view, we have multiple relationships, specifically on the NPA numbers on the unsecured portfolio side. As we have mentioned, there have been a marginal increase in the last 12 to 15 months over a very small base. The personal loan growth has moderated from about 25% in Q1 2025 to about 1.4% year-on-year during the current quarter, and has also declined sequentially. Hence, the asset quality trends in unsecured portfo

Hi, good afternoon. Actually just want to understand the broader loan growth picture, because industry-led loan growth quite significantly into single digits now, even if you have maintained your trajectory, there must be a shift in the market that you are perceiving. And I am curious to know where it's coming from, which are the segments where you are seeing either people hold off, maybe because of the sort of uncertainty in the economic environment or banks not willing to lend, because there is some nervousness on quality?

Sandeep Batra

I think we are quite comfortable in lending to profile that we are comfortable with. Yes, overall, the system loan growth, there's been a bit of a slowdown. So the domestic loan portfolio grew by 12% year-on-year while the banking system has grown by about 9.5% as of June 27, which was the last number which came out. Now within this, our retail portfolio has grown by about 7% and banking portfolio has grown by about 30%, while the corporate portfolio has grown by about 7.5%. And within that, of course, there are varying, the retail home loan has grown by 10% and PL and credit cards have been g

Hi, sir. Just wanted to get a sense regarding your margins as well. You have posted around 4.34% this quarter with the Reserve Bank of India clearly taking the front loading last time. How are you placed in terms of margin in this fiscal later on in coming quarters?

Sandeep Batra

It’s difficult to call out what happens during the rest of the year. But broadly, our NII grew by about 10% during the quarter. And the NII margin, as you said, was about 4.34% in the current quarter compared to 4.41% in the previous quarter, and about 4.36% in Q1 of the previous year. Of course, the movement in the net interest income from Q4 to Q1 was primarily due to repricing of loans linked to external benchmarks, which was according to actions which RBI has taken. Some interest reversals on account of NPS seasonal additions in Kisan Credit Cards, which normally happens in the first and t

Hi. So, two questions. Your retail loan growth at 6.9% is slower than what you reported the previous quarter and in Q1 last year. I want to understand, is there a lack of demand that you are seeing or you are deliberately going slow? That's the first question. The second is, you referred to some payouts by certain corporates. Are you seeing sort of a rate war among lenders for the corporate loan accounts? Thank you.

Sandeep Batra

Shayan, I think as a banker, what you look at is overall cash or need and our job is to look at cash flow mismatches of our customer, and try to bridge that gap. From our point of view, yes, 6.9% growth on retail has been slower than what it has been in the past. We look at thresholds of both pricing and credit. And as long as the thresholds are met, we are happy to grow. Secondly, there is a lot of transaction banking also, which takes place. So, during the payment space, there is also something that we have to look out for. Yes, on the corporate side, there is a bit of a competitive pressure

Thank you so much. On the peer and the credit card front, we have seen how when repeated flags were being raised on it. The Bank’s moderated the growth to about 20% odd figures basically. But right now, just weeks after RBI saying at least one of those two segments are displaying better asset quality, you have actually moderated it much sharply to about 1% each. Why so, sir? Basically, is it again like sort of slower demand from clients or is it just your sort of quality calls which you are taking there, sir?

Sandeep Batra

We would certainly like to do better. So to whatever extent, RBI took those actions around moderating was almost about close to two years back. We have taken whatever actions on trying to look at the segments, which one was tightened by RBI, and even internally when we were looking at segments; we continuously look at segments, whether it is in the form of income or bureau scores and keep modifying it as we deem appropriate. As we have talked about, we really do not look at the product. We look at 360 degrees relationship with the customer and product is just one of the means to serve the cust

Okay, sir. You just explained about the pressure in the rural side, which was slightly marginal. But there were some shortfalls in some small and marginal farmers and weaker section PSLs, which the company was planning to address. Have they been addressed? And is that one of the reasons because of the rural overall portfolio is down by around 0.4%?

Sandeep Batra

No, when we look at customers, that's a separate thing. Because we have got various segments, where you have to meet the PSL requirement and one of them is the small and marginal farmers. And whoever, meets our credit thresholds, we are happy to lend. So that is essentially what we look at. I think it's the first and most important thing is to ensure that the credit thresholds are supportive, irrespective of segment. So I would like to just make a distinction between that approach. And rural, there has been a bit of a slowdown, which includes tightening of norms on the jewel loans also. Okay,

Hi, sir. Just wanted to get a sense on this corporate book. It has de-grown by 1.4% quarter-on-quarter. So, what has been the reason for this de-growth? And do you think overall the banking system rates are too high still and that is why corporates are probably tapping the bond market and not using the loan facility? And I know you don't give guidance, but where do you see your loan growth in this financial year? I mean, would you say mid-teens or high-teens?

Sandeep Batra

All right, corporate, as I did mention, have got multiple sources of funding. And the primary source of funding is first their internal accruals, and secondly is the equity market. So, they have real access to lots of funds. And then, of course, there is a bond market. And then there are banks. So, I think the corporates, especially the better-rated one, have got multiple choices and they will always optimise their sources of funding. From our point of view, we like to do overall 360 degree. So yes, as you are aware that our corporate portfolio is about 20% of our total portfolio. It is doing

On provisions, like you said, the absolute amount is quite low. And it is on a low base. But could you explain the reason for the increase? Also, you mentioned that this includes the release of that AIF amount. So, I am guessing that had it not been for that, the provisions would have been even more.

Sandeep Batra

I think no. Let me just explain. The AIF release of about ₹389 crore or ₹3.89 billion happened last year. So, when you are talking of, I mean, so that is why when you compare it with this, that's why the reason is the total provision of this quarter was about ₹18 billion as compared to ₹13 billion in Q1 of last year. And Q1 of last year had this one-off impact of release of AIF of about ₹3.89 billion. So, that sort of explains the difference. But even with this, the provisions during the quarter are just about 10.4% of the core operating profit and about 0.53% of average advances. And during t

Sir, I wanted to get a better grip of what exactly has led to the spike in provisions. One is, of course, the very, very low base, and I fully appreciate that. But is there, just give us some colour on that, what's happened there?

Sandeep Batra

No, as I mentioned to the previous thing, the provision in the current quarter is about ₹18 billion. When you are comparing it with Q1 of last year, which was about ₹13.3 billion last year, there was a one-off impact of release of AIF because RBI has changed its guidelines or gave a clarification on AIF provisioning. So, we felt there was no need. Okay, let me just step a little back. In March of 2024, we had made a provisions on AIF based on our understanding of the guidelines at that point of time. When RBI gave a clarification about that provisions, we released about ₹3.89 billion? If it wa

Thanks, both my questions have just been answered actually. So, I was also going to ask about the other income. I think one thing I will make a point about is that bond yields have fallen very sharply in the last two quarters, which has also, I imagine, sir, added to the other incomes. So, do you expect at least that component to continue in the next few quarters?

Sandeep Batra

No, I think that has largely got reflected in the treasury income. And if you see our treasury income during the current quarter is about ₹12.41 billion, which was just about ₹2.3 billion in the last quarter and about ₹6 billion in Q1 of 2025. So, I think that has got largely baked in. The rest will depend on how the market moves and our ability to read that.

So, would you need to raise capital to support loan growth or internal accruals are enough to support the loan growth that you have targeted?

Sandeep Batra

We are very well capitalised. I don't think so we need to raise any equity capital at all at this point of time. So, when you have lower loan growth, then obviously you need lesser capital. So, to that extent, at this point of time, we really don't see the need for raising any equity capital. At this point of time when you said, you qualified that, but when do you see you actually going to the market and raising capital? When is the time opportune actually? We have got a Tier 1 capital adequacy of about 15.65%, sorry, if I just adjust it for profit etc. is about Tier 1 about 15.31%. The capita

Sir, I wanted to understand how big is your international loan book? And is it showing any sign of stress?

Sandeep Batra

No, there is no sign of stress. It is a pretty small book. The overall size of the book in our branches is about ₹32,900 crore and it represents about 2.4% of our overall advances. As you are aware, our international loan book is not really an important metric of what is happening in our international operations. We look at it from a survey. We look at our international business more from an NRI perspective and look at trade transactions happening between India and those countries, as well as meeting demands of Indian corporates over there. So, from an overall angle, we really do not look at t

• The total outstanding to NBFCs and HFCs was 874.17 billion Rupees at June 30, 2025 compared to 918.38 billion Rupees at March 31, 2025. The total outstanding loans to NBFCs and HFCs were about 6.4% of our advances at June 30, 2025. • The builder portfolio including construction finance, lease rental discounting, term loans and working capital was 628.33 billion Rupees at June 30, 2025 4 compared to 616.24 billion Rupees at March 31, 2025. The builder portfolio was about 4.6% of our total loan portfolio. Our portfolio largely comprises well-established builders and this is also reflected in t

Management

My first question was on margins regarding the change in method. Now fourth quarter is the quarter where you see the biggest positive impact of the old method. So your margin decline even adjusted for the interest on tax refund 10 appears to be just four to five basis points. Is that a correct assessment? That is my first question. Or if you could give a like-to-like comparison of margins for the fourth quarter, that would be even better. And then my second question is on growth because that is an obvious challenge for the sector and nothing seems to be growing much other than low yield corpor

Anindya Banerjee

Thanks, Mahrukh. On the first one, yes, the reported margin for Q4 would have been a few basis points lower. So, the kind of range that you spoke of is probably correct. But equally, the same Q3 to Q4 spike will not happen in the current year. We will have a more even spread of reported margin through the year. On the growth side, I think as you know, in the first quarter, there have been a number of global events, etc., which I guess had some impact on the sentiment. But the substantial monetary easing that has taken place starting from Q4 particularly and carrying through into Q1, will also

So, sorry again to touch upon on margin. Fair to say maybe the unwinding which was expected to come in the first quarter, maybe because of this day benefit that would not have been there in this particular quarter. Otherwise, any which way was like we are comparing 4.41% to 4.34%. So, maybe like four-five basis points of unwinding is not really there in this quarter and thereafter maybe adjusting for interest on income tax refund, we have seen like 14 bps kind of a decline in NIMs on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Would that be correct?

Anindya Banerjee

No, that would not be correct because there is no unwinding in the first quarter. NIM typically declines from Q4 to Q1 because of the higher number of days in Q1 and then there is a pickup again in Q4. So, the Q4 NIM, if we had used an equal month basis would have been lower than the reported number of 4.41%. But I think that is why even in our previous calls we have focused attention on the previous year’s full year NIM of 4.3% as the anchor for further discussion. But we thought that it would also be good to eliminate that one confusion point. Yes. So, the only thing was maybe unwinding I ju

A couple of questions. First is, if I see your mix on corporate creditors, the AA- mix has been reducing over the last few years and BBB- has been increasing. Is that the sweet spot on RORWA, that’s why you are doing it? And any risks around that? That is the first one. The second one is on business banking. Very good numbers. What went right? And going forward, if you think about the mix of credit growth over the next, let’s say, a couple of years, where should we see the incremental delta coming from? Any granularity you can provide would be great.

Anindya Banerjee

So, on the first question, I think the decline in the proportion of the very high rated is partly a function of demand and partly a function of pricing. And in some cases, we may have in earlier periods of very easy liquidity built up some portfolio there and that has gradually run off as the funding environment got tighter. Currently, of course, as you would know that overall credit growth itself has come down. And in this particular segment, there is fairly high price competition. So, we would really look at this segment as we look at all the other corporate borrowers from a Customer 360 per

Congrats on another set of good numbers. I have three questions. One is around the decline in cost of deposits that we have reported in the quarter. So, it seems fairly sharp 15 basis points decline. So, is it like the unwinding that we have done in respect to the high cost deposits that has resulted in this kind of decline and has it played out fully or this will continue along with the SA cut benefits in Q2 also?

Anindya Banerjee

There is no unwinding. As I said, the impact of the equal month convention on the reported NIM for the quarter and other ratios for the quarter is negligible. So, as far as the decline in deposits cost, it is clearly the reduction in the savings account deposit rate, large part of it was 25 basis points that was there in April, the benefit of that has been there for pretty much the full quarter. And then on the higher value deposits, there was another cut in May, which also helped. In addition, of course, for the retail term deposits also gradually, the incremental rates repricing would reflec

Anindya, on this question on margins, just on the yield side, with the drop of 25 basis points that you have seen, is it possible to kind of quantify how much of the repo rate cuts have flown through the loan book?

Anindya Banerjee

We have not quantified it. If you look at the February cut, I think it would have largely flown through almost entirely. The April cut also would have substantially flown through. Maybe we have a little bit more to happen in Q2. The June cut, I would say has not flown through much and most of that will come through in Q2. 18 Sorry, just to answer the previous question, you said that the bulk of the benefit on the cost of deposit side has come from the savings account given that the contribution of wholesale is fairly small? That is just computable, 25 bps cut on the portfolio that would have y

Congrats on the quarter. Just firstly a couple of clarifications on previous question. So, Nitin’s question on 15 bps reduction in cost of deposits, that also includes the number of days thing, right? Like core deposit cost would not have gone down 15 bps, correct QoQ?

Anindya Banerjee

As I said, the margins for the first quarter on both basis, there would be a negligible difference, which is what we have mentioned in our opening remarks. Relative to the fourth quarter, the decline in margins would have been somewhat lower on a comparable basis. But then, Anindya, how do I think about it in the context of you versus peers where your margins are down, say, 5-6 bps, core NIM. HDFC, Axis are down 12-13 bps. Is it just a more delayed pass-through of the repo rate cuts, is that how I should simplistically put it? Because all of you all have cut SA rates at approximately the same

Thank you very much for taking time on a Saturday, and we are happy to clear any other doubts offline. Thank you.

Management

Advertisement

Speaking time

Sandeep Batra

Moderator

Anindya Banerjee

Piran Engineer

Ashish Agashe

Kunal Shah

Nitin Aggarwal

MB Mahesh

Alekh Angre

Ira Dugal

Opening remarks

Sandeep Batra

Thank you all for joining us today. Good evening everyone The Indian economy continues to be resilient and remains supported from various initiatives taken by the government and regulators. The policy makers are taking proactive steps to maintain macroeconomic stability and promote growth. Our long-term strategy remains aligned with India’s growth trajectory, while continuing to monitor the risks amidst global volatilities. At ICICI Bank, our strategic focus continues to be on growing profit before tax excluding treasury through the 360-degree customer centric approach and by serving opportunities across ecosystems and micromarkets. We continue to operate within the framework of our values to strengthen our franchise. Maintaining high standards of governance, deepening coverage and enhancing delivery capabilities with a focus on simplicity and operational resilience, are key drivers for our risk calibrated profitable growth. Our Board has today approved the financial results of ICICI B

Advertisement

← All transcripts ICICIBANK stock page →

ICICI Bank Limited

Market Movers