ICICI Bank posts first quarterly loss in at least 16 years

ICICI Bank Ltd, India’s third-largest lender by assets, reported its first quarterly net loss in at least 16 years on Friday on higher provisions for bad loans and hurt by bond losses.

Net loss was Rs 120 crore ($17.5 million) in the three months to June 30, compared with a profit of Rs 2049 crore a year earlier, the bank said in a statement.

Analysts on average had expected a net profit of Rs 1462 crore , according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans was 8.81 percent at the end of June, compared with 8.84 percent at the end of the previous quarter, and 7.99 percent a year earlier.

The results come amid uncertainties around the bank’s long-serving Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar, who is on leave as a probe continues into alleged nepotism charges against her.

ICICI Bank, which holds the highest amount of bad loans among the country’s private-sector lenders, added Rs 4036 crore in additional non-performing loans during the quarter, taking its total outstanding to Rs 53465 crore.

Even if the bad loan additions in the June quarter were the slowest in 11 quarters, the bank said it had to make higher provisions for ageing non-performing loans and cases in bankruptcy court, leading to the net loss.

Total provisions more than doubled from a year earlier to Rs 5971 crore with the bank not availing a central bank dispensation of spreading bond losses over four quarters.

ICICI shares closed 2.6 percent higher in Mumbai trading ahead of the results. In pre-market trading in New York, the stock was down 0.5% after the results.