ICICI Bank shares surge 9 per cent on Q4 results, NPA resolution

New Delhi: ICICI Bank shares today soared nearly 9 per cent, driven by a five-fold jump in its March quarter net profit and the Cabinet nod to NPA resolution in the banking sector.

Starting on a positive note, the stock extended gains by 8.76 per cent to Rs 296.65 on BSE. On NSE, shares of the company zoomed 8.72 per cent to Rs
296.55.

Largest private sector lender ICICI Bank yesterday reported a five-fold jump in its March quarter profit at Rs 2,082.75 crore, but the asset quality woes which had dented its bottomline year-ago, continued to persist.

On a standalone basis, profit soared to Rs 2,024.64 crore from Rs 701.89 crore in the year-ago period but was down from Rs 2,441 crore in the December quarter.

The gross non-performing assets ratio shot up to 7.89 per cent from 5.21 per cent in the year-ago period and 7.20 per cent in the December quarter.

The total provisions went down to Rs 2,898.22 crore from Rs 3,326.21 crore in  the year-ago period and provision coverage ratio dipped to 53.6 per cent from 61 per cent in the year-ago period.

The surge in the bank's stock price was also on account of the government's decision to bring an ordinance to empower the Reserve Bank to effectively deal with the problem of mounting bad loans in the banking sector.

A proposal to amend Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act through the ordinance route was approved by the Cabinet yesterday.