ICICI Bank Ltd, India's third-largest lender by assets, said its fourth-quarter net profit almost halved, missing expectations, as provisions for bad loans surged. Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans stood at 8.84 percent at the end of March compared with 7.82 percent at the end of the previous quarter and 7.89 percent a year earlier.
Net profit for the three months to March 31 fell to 10.20 billion rupees ($151.94 million) from 20.25 billion rupees a year earlier, the bank said in a statement on Monday. That compared with the average 10.77 billion rupees forecast of 12 analysts, according to Thomson Reuters data. Net interest income for the quarter was up 1 percent on the year to 60.22 billion rupees, while net interest margin was at 3.24 percent.