Crisil has enhanced the debt instruments of ICICI Bank to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ and said that the bank is expected to retain progress in earnings profile.
Crisil said, “Crisil has revised its rating outlook on ICICI Bank upper tier II bonds and tier I perpetual bonds to stable from negative,” it said in a release. “The future growth will be supported by its increased branch network, and growth in secured asset classes over the medium term”.
N S Kannan, ICICI Bank’s executive director and CFO said “Our fee income from corporate and retail banking has been increasing sequentially for the past four quarters and will continue to do so in the coming quarters”.
As on March 31, the bank’s fee income was Rs 5,600 crore. Moreover Crisil restated its ‘AAA’ rating, which shows the highest level of security with respect to timely payment of financial dues, on the bank’s upper tier II bonds and tier I perpetual bonds.
Mr Kannan said the bank is incessantly enhancing its credit quality by reducing its retail unsecured loans. Also it is increasing its branch network ,while keeping costs at the present level.
ICICI Bank’s credit cost is expected to fall over the next few quarters due to relieving pressure on the bank’s asset quality, Crisil said.