Mumbai, Jul 24 (IANS): Private sector lending major ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a rise of 78 per cent in its standalone net profit for the first quarter of FY 2021-22.

On a standalone basis, the profit after tax grew to Rs 4,616 crore compared to Rs 2,599 crore in Q1FY21.

Similarly, the bank's net interest income (NII) during the quarter rose by 18 per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,936 crore, from Rs 9,280 crore earned during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

"The net interest margin was 3.89 per cent in Q1-2022 compared to 3.84 per cent in the quarter ended March 31, 2021 (Q4-2021) and 3.69 per cent in Q1-2021," the bank said in a statement.

Besides, the bank made provisions (excluding provision for tax) of Rs 2,852 crore in Q1FY22 compared to Rs 7,594 crore in Q1FY21.

"During Q1-2022, the bank changed its policy on non-performing loans to make it more conservative. The change in policy resulted in higher provision on non-performing advances amounting to Rs 1,127 crore for aligning the provisions on outsanding loans to the revised policy," it said.

"Based on its current assessment of the portfolio, the bank wrote back Covid-19 provisions amounting to Rs 1,050 crore made in earlier periods," the statement added.

As on June 30, 2021, the bank held Covid-19 related provisions of Rs 6,425 crore.

In terms of asset quality, the net non-performing assets were Rs 9,306 crore on June 30, 2021, compared to Rs 9,180 crore on March 31, 2021.

"The net NPA ratio was 1.16 per cent on June 30, 2021 compared to 1.14 per cent on March 31, 2021," the statement said.

"The net addition to gross NPAs during the quarter was Rs 3,604 crore. The gross NPA additions were Rs 7,231 crore in Q1-2022. Recoveries and upgrades of NPAs, excluding write-offs and sale, were Rs 3,627 crore in Q1-2022," it added.

The gross NPAs written off were Rs 1,589 crore in Q1-2022.

"Excluding NPAs, the total fund based outstanding to all borrowers under resolution as per the various extant regulations or guidelines was Rs 4,864 crore or about 0.7 per cent of the total loan portfolio, on June 30, 2021 compared to Rs 3,927 crore on March 31, 2021," the statement said.

"The fund-based and non-fund based outstanding to borrowers rated BB and below was Rs 13,975 crore on June 30, 2021 compared to Rs 13,098 crore on March 31, 2021," it added.

In addition, the bank reported that consolidated profit after tax was Rs 4,747 crore in Q1FY22, compared to Rs 4,886 crore in Q4FY21 and Rs 3,118 crore in Q1FY21.