1. At a Glance
ICICI Bank is no longer a turnaround story.
That movie ended years ago.
Today, the bank looks more like a giant financial machine that keeps printing profits, gathering deposits, expanding branches, and quietly taking market share while everyone else argues about deposit costs and loan growth.
FY26 profit stood at ₹57,936 crore. Q4 FY26 profit came in at ₹15,681 crore. Gross NPA fell to 1.40% while net NPA dropped to just 0.33%. The bank’s CET1 ratio stood at 16.35%, provision coverage ratio was 75.8%, and it still had contingency provisions of ₹13,100 crore sitting on the balance sheet.
That is the banking equivalent of carrying a raincoat, umbrella, backup umbrella, and emergency boat even when the weather forecast says sunny.
The balance sheet is now massive.
Total assets touched ₹29,14,498 crore. Deposits crossed ₹18.3 lakh crore. Advances rose to more than ₹16.4 lakh crore on a consolidated basis.
And despite already being enormous, the bank is still growing.
Total advances grew 15.8% year-on-year. Business banking grew 24.4%. Rural loans grew 25.6%. Deposits grew 11.4%.
This is where ICICI becomes interesting.
Banks usually start slowing down once they reach this size. Large numbers become harder. Growth becomes tougher. Competition becomes uglier.
Yet ICICI continues to grow without blowing up its balance sheet.
The best part is that management no longer sounds like it is trying to impress investors with grand speeches.
The language is boring.
They talk about “risk-calibrated growth”, “profit before treasury”, “customer ecosystems”, “operational resilience” and “strong governance”.
Which is exactly what investors want to hear after living through enough banking disasters.
Still, there were some bumps in FY26.
The bank had to take an RBI-directed provision of ₹1,283 crore on agricultural priority sector loans because some facilities were not fully compliant with PSL classification norms.
Management repeatedly clarified that these loans were standard, secured, and showing no deterioration in repayment behaviour.
But the provision was enough to dent Q3 earnings and remind everyone that even the cleanest banks can get surprised by regulators.
Then there were GST notices.
Several of them.
One crossed ₹384 crore.
Another crossed ₹50 crore.
Another crossed ₹237 crore.
ICICI says it will contest all of them.
Which in India usually means the legal case will last longer than some startups.
2. Introduction
ICICI Bank has changed dramatically over the last decade.
There was a time when the bank was known for aggressive corporate lending, rising bad loans, and enough quarterly stress to make shareholders nervous.
That is no longer the case.
Today, ICICI is one of the cleanest large-bank stories in the country.
Gross NPA is down to 1.40%. Net NPA is 0.33%. Around 72% of the corporate loan book is rated A- and above. BB and below exposure is just 0.5%.
This is not a bank chasing reckless growth.
This is a bank that seems determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Management repeatedly highlighted in the Q3 FY26 concall that they are focused on growing “profit before tax excluding treasury”.
That is important.
Because treasury gains can disappear overnight.
A strong retail franchise, a stable deposit base, and disciplined lending are much harder to destroy.
The bank’s operating numbers reflect that discipline.
Core operating profit in Q4 FY26 rose 5.1% year-on-year to ₹18,305 crore. Profit before tax excluding treasury rose 10.1% to ₹18,209 crore.
Even though the Q3 quarter got hit by the agricultural PSL provision issue, the overall picture remained solid.
Management explicitly said that without that one-off provision, Q3 PAT growth would have been positive instead of negative.
Another interesting point is how ICICI has chosen to manage unsecured lending.
Credit card loans actually declined 5.6% year-on-year.
Personal loans grew just 7.2%.
That may not look exciting in the short term, but it shows the bank is prioritising quality over volume.
In banking, the easiest way to look brilliant for two years is to lend aggressively.
The hardest way to survive for twenty years is to avoid bad loans later.
ICICI seems to have understood that lesson.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
ICICI Bank is not just a bank.
It is basically an entire financial ecosystem.
The bank does:
- Home loans
- Vehicle loans
- Personal loans
- Credit cards
- Business banking
- Corporate loans
- Rural lending
- Wealth management
- Insurance
- Mutual funds
- Broking
- Pension products
- International banking
If money is moving somewhere in India, there is a good chance ICICI is involved.
Retail loans remain the largest part of the book.
Retail loans account for 50.4% of total advances.
Within retail:
- Mortgages are 63.4%
- Personal loans are 16.6%
- Vehicle loans are 12.8%
- Credit cards are 6.9%
Mortgages are particularly important because they are sticky.
A home loan customer is not just a loan customer.
That customer may also take insurance, credit cards, savings accounts, mutual funds, demat accounts, and wealth management products.
One mortgage customer can become five different revenue streams.
Then comes business banking.
This segment now accounts for 21% of advances and grew 24.4% in FY26.
These are borrowers with turnover up to ₹750 crore.
It is a sweet spot.
Yields are better than large corporate loans, but the risk is lower than unsecured retail lending.
Corporate lending still matters, but the bank is much more disciplined now.
Domestic corporate loans account for around 20% of the book.
Top 20 borrowers make up just 6.4% of exposure.
That is a huge shift
