Mumbai, Jan 22 (PTI) Private sector lender ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a nearly 19 per cent jump in its consolidated profit to Rs 6,536 crore for the quarter ended in December 2021, helped by higher net interest income (NII) and lower provisions. The bank had posted a profit after tax of Rs 5,498 crore in the year-ago period. "It was an all-round growth. We had an NII growth of 23 per cent and core operating profit also grew by 25 per cent. Our provisions declined by 27 per cent,” the lender"s Executive Director Sandeep Batra told reporters here. However, total income was lower at Rs 39,865.80 crore in the third quarter this fiscal compared to Rs 40,419.08 crore in the same quarter a year ago, according to a regulatory filing. On a standalone basis, the profit after tax jumped by 25 per cent to Rs 6,194 crore in the third quarter of FY2022 compared to Rs 4,940 crore in the same quarter of FY2021. Total income increased to Rs 27,069.67 crore from Rs 24,416 crore in the year-ago period. Net interest income (NII) jumped by 23 per cent year-on-year to Rs 12,236 crore compared to Rs 9,912 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) stood at 3.96 per cent compared to 3.67 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Fee income grew by 19 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,291 crore from Rs 3,601 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. Treasury income declined to Rs 88 crore during the reporting quarter compared to Rs 766 crore in Q3 FY2021. The treasury income in Q3 FY2021 included a gain of Rs 329 crore from sale of shares of ICICI Securities, the lender said in a release. Gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio was at 4.13 per cent in the third quarter as against 4.38 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Net NPA stood at 0.85 per cent from 0.63 per cent in the year-ago period. Speaking of the impact of the third wave of Covid-19, Batra said, “As things stand today, the third wave may have created local disruptions. We do not anticipate, at this point of time, any significant economic disruptions to the portfolio that we have." The lender has a Covid provision of Rs 6,425 crore, which it did not release during the December quarter, he said. Provisions (excluding provision for tax) declined by 27 per cent to Rs 2,007 crore from Rs 2,742 crore. The gross addition to NPAs during the quarter was about Rs 4,018 crore compared to around Rs 5,500 crore in the September quarter. Of that, retail was about Rs 3,853 crore and corporate and SME was about Rs 165 crore. Recoveries and upgrades of NPAs, excluding write-offs and sale, were Rs 4,209 crore. The gross NPAs written-off in the quarter were Rs 4,088 crore. Its restructured book stood at Rs 9,684 crore or 1.2 per cent of total advances as of December 31, 2021. The bank"s total capital adequacy as of December 31, 2021 was 19.79 per cent. Total advances increased by 16 per cent year-on-year to Rs 8,13,992 as of December 31, 2021. The domestic advances grew by 18 per cent y-o-y. Its retail loan portfolio grew by 19 per cent. Total deposits rose by 16 per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,17,467 crore as of December end. Batra said the value of credit card spends in Q3 FY2022 was 2.2 times the value of credit card spends in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, the bank on Saturday informed exchanges that Vibha Paul Rishi has been appointed as its Additional (Independent) Director for a period of five years with effect from January 23, 2022. The appointment of Rishi came after Rama Bijapurkar resigned as Independent Director, citing conflict of interest. Her resignation will be effective from January 23, 2022. PTI HV MR MR