ICICI Bank surely surprised one and all with its blockbuster earnings for Q4FY21 and the stock opened over 5% higher at Rs.600.30 and rose to hit an intraday high at Rs.604.90, up over 6%. Its 52-week high is at Rs.679.30.

The Bank posted a big 261% (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs.4403 crore on a 17% rise in NII at Rs.10,431 crore. NIM for the quarter was at 3.84% v/s 3.67% (QoQ) and v/s 3.87% (YoY).

The profit would have been higher but for the huge 523% jump in tax outgo at Rs.254 crore, which is what showed the mismatch against “expectations.”

Provisions and contingencies rose QoQ by 5% to Rs.2883 crore but down 52% (YoY). The Bank has made additional COVID-19 related provisions of Rs 1,000 crore during March quarter FY21, and as of March 2021, the bank held COVID-19-related provision of Rs 7,475 crore.

The Banks asset quality improved with Gross NPA coming down to 4.96% v/s 5.42% (QoQ) while Net NPA declined from 1.26% to 1.14% (QoQ).

The bank has written off Rs 2,700 crore of loans in Q4FY21 v/s Rs.5400 crore (YoY). It said that around Rs.4,000 crore of slippages came from retail in Q4 and the rest from corporate & SME.