ICICI Bank reported its financial results for the fiscal third quarter ending December 31, 2025. Core operating profit increased 6% year-over-year to INR 175.13 billion. Total provisions for the quarter were INR 25.56 billion, which included an additional standard asset provision of INR 12.83 billion following a Reserve Bank of India supervisory review.
Managing Director and CEO Sandeep Bakhshi stated that profit before tax excluding treasury was INR 149.57 billion, compared with INR 152.89 billion in the same quarter last year. Profit after tax was INR 113.18 billion versus INR 117.92 billion a year earlier. A treasury loss of INR 1.57 billion affected results, contrasting with a gain of INR 3.71 billion in the year-ago period.
Executive Director Anindya explained the RBI directive related to a portfolio of agricultural priority sector credit facilities where terms were not fully compliant with regulatory requirements. He emphasized there was no change in asset classification or borrower terms. The bank expects the provision to continue until loans are repaid or renewed in conformity with guidelines.
Management estimated the underlying portfolio needing work at between INR 200-250 billion. They said they would work to minimize both provisioning and any priority sector lending impact by bringing the portfolio into regulatory compliance.
On an adjusted basis excluding the incremental standard-asset provisioning, profit before tax excluding treasury would have increased 6.2% year-over-year to INR 162.40 billion. Profit after tax would have increased 4.1% to INR 122.80 billion.
Average deposits grew 8.7% year-over-year, with average current and savings account deposits rising 8.9%. Total deposits increased 9.2% year-over-year as of December 31, 2025. The bank's average liquidity coverage ratio for the quarter was about 126%.
Management noted a softer trend in overall savings balances reflected a reduction in institutional banking savings accounts. Retail savings account growth remained strong, but institutional savings balances declined over the past two quarters. The institutional savings portion was described as 10-12% of the average savings account base.
The domestic loan portfolio grew 11.5% year-over-year as of December 31, 2025. Retail loans increased 7.2%, business banking grew 22.8%, and the domestic corporate portfolio grew 5.6%. Overall loan growth including international branches was 11.5% year-over-year.
Executives said they saw a pickup in sequential growth momentum in the quarter and expected it to sustain into the fourth quarter while maintaining underwriting discipline.
Anindya reported that mortgages increased 11.1% year-over-year. Auto loans grew 0.7%, commercial vehicles and equipment rose 7.9%, and personal loans grew 2.4%. The credit card portfolio declined 3.5% year-over-year and 6.7% sequentially.
Management attributed the sequential credit card decline primarily to high festive spending late in the previous quarter that boosted Q2 balances, followed by repayments in Q3. They said they view cards as part of a broader customer relationship strategy and expect the book to gradually improve.
Net interest income rose 7.7% year-over-year to INR 219.32 billion. Net interest margin was 4.3%, unchanged from the prior quarter. The cost of deposits was 4.55%, down from 4.64% in the prior quarter.
Management said margin performance in Q3 included loan repricing impacts from repo and MCLR changes, as well as seasonally higher non-accrual effects tied to Kisan Credit Card NPAs. They expected non-accrual impacts to ease in Q4 and reiterated that NIM should be range-bound from current levels.
Non-interest income excluding treasury increased 12.4% year-over-year to INR 75.25 billion. Fee income rose 6.3% to INR 65.72 billion, with fees from retail, rural, and business banking customers comprising about 78% of total fees.
Operating expenses grew 13.2% year-over-year. Employee expenses rose 12.5%, including INR 1.45 billion of provisions related to the new labor code. Non-employee expenses increased 13.6%. The branch count increased by 402 over the first nine months of the year to 7,385 branches as of December 31, 2025.
The bank reported a net NPA ratio of 0.37% at December 31, 2025, compared with 0.39% at September 30, 2025. Provisioning coverage on non-performing loans was 75.4%. The bank also held contingency provisions of INR 131 billion, about 0.9% of total advances.
Gross NPA additions were INR 53.56 billion during the quarter, down from INR 60.85 billion a year earlier. Recoveries and upgrades from gross NPAs were INR 32.82 billion, resulting in net additions to gross NPAs of INR 20.74 billion.
Retail and rural gross NPA additions were INR 42.77 billion, with KCC gross NPA additions of INR 7.36 billion. Management noted they typically see higher KCC NPA additions in the first and third fiscal quarters. Corporate and business banking gross NPA additions were INR 10.79 billion.
On corporate exposures, management said outstanding to NBFCs and HFCs was INR 791.18 billion. The builder portfolio was INR 680.83 billion, with about 1.1% internally rated BB and below or classified as non-performing.
Capital remained strong with a CET1 ratio of 16.46% and total capital adequacy ratio of 17.34% at December 31, 2025, including profits for nine months of FY26.
Management concluded by reiterating its focus on maintaining a strong balance sheet, prudent provisioning, and healthy capital levels while pursuing market share gains in targeted segments.