India's ICICI Bank beats estimates with 36% jump in Q2 net profit

MUMBAI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Indias second largest private lender ICICI Bank (ICBK.NS) reported a 35.8% increase in net profit for the July-September quarter on Saturday, buoyed by strong growth in core lending income and robust loan growth.

Standalone net profit rose to a record 102.61 billion Indian rupees ($1.23 billion) in the second financial quarter, from 75.58 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier.

That was significantly above analysts forecast of 96.26 billion rupees, according to LSEG data.

Net interest income - the difference between interest earned and paid - rose 23.8% to 183.08 billion rupees.

The net interest margin - a key gauge of lenders profitability - was at 4.53% in the reporting quarter compared to 4.31% last year, but declined from 4.78% reported in the prior quarter.

Net domestic loans grew by 19.3% year-on-year, while deposits grew 18.8%.

ICICI Banks asset quality improved, with its gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio at 2.48% as of end-September, compared with 2.76% at the end of June.

The banks net NPA ratio declined to 0.43% at the end of the quarter, compared with 0.48% at the end of the prior quarter.

($1 = 83.1500 Indian rupees)