ICICI Bank Among Jefferies' Top Picks As Deposit Growth Flies Higher Than Other Large Banks

Global brokerage firm Jefferies maintained its bullish stance on ICICI Bank as it sees the bank among its top picks in the sector.

What Happened: Jefferies maintained a "buy" call on the scrip with a target price of ₹1,350, implying an upside of 12.69% from the previous day's close. The bank has a deposit growth of 20%, which is the best among the large banks. The slower cost growth will offset margin normalisation, the brokerage said.

The private lender's asset quality is holding up and the corporate book can see recoveries, the research firm added. Jefferies said the bank remains among its top picks in the sector. 

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In its March quarter results, ICICI Bank’s net profit rose 17.37% from the previous year to ₹10,707.53 crore. Sequentially, it gained 4.3%. The lender’s gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio fell to 2.16% from 2.30% in the December quarter. Its net NPA fell to 0.42% in March from 0.44% in the December quarter.

In the previous trading session, ICICI Bank's market cap crossed $100 billion (around ₹8.34 lakh crore), making it the 6th Indian company to do so. ICICI Bank is the second-largest bank in India behind HDFC Bank. 

Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Airtel and Infosys are other companies that have crossed the $100 billion threshold. Infosys is no longer in the club, though, after its share price fell around 20% from highs in January 2022. 

Price Action: Shares of ICICI Bank were up 0.30% at ₹1,201.60 on Wednesday morning.  

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