Mumbai, Aug 18 (The South India Times): ICICI Bank has been trading at a record of Rs 885 during the early morning trade on Thursday. Motilal Oswal’s report said that the bank’s annual report reaffirms our view that the bank is progressing well in its endeavor to strengthen its Balance Sheet, with a strong focus on the retail franchise. The private lender’s retail portfolio has been leading the overall loan growth, the SME and Business Banking portfolio grew 39 percent on year in FY22 and constitutes 11 percent of total loans.
“ICICI Bank grew its business by focusing on granularity and saw healthy growth across Retail, SME, and Business Banking portfolios. This is underpinned by a focus on risk and reward, with a return of capital vs a return on capital and avoidance of lumpy provisions. The bank has increased its focus on higher-yielding retail loans like personal loans and credit cards,” the report said.
Credit cost is expected to remain benign as the bank has made excellent progress towards improving its asset quality, with a provision coverage ratio of 80 percent, coupled with contingent provisions of Rs 85 billion. Analysts expect gross non-performing assets and net non-performing assets to moderate to 2.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, by FY24. The credit cost is expected to undershoot its long-term trends at 0.7 percent over FY22-24.
