From bad loans to asset quality, how ICICI Bank fared under Chanda Kochhar

Chanda Kochhar may have stepped down following a scandal, but performance has not been the best of the banking pack. The percentage of the bank’s loans that went bad is higher than key rivals show year-end comparisons to HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, even as advances more than doubled during her tenure (chart 1), the bank also had a lower net interest margin than HDFC or Axis, though ICICI had a higher capital adequacy ratio. Profitability peaked for her tenure in 2014-15 at Rs 111.8 billion. But last year’s profits were 40 per cent lower at Rs 67.8 billion. The struggle with profitability also reflected in falling return on assets (chart 2). Much of this can also be attributed to the troubles dogging the banking sector. However, shareholders do seem to be betting more on other private sector banks. The m-cap for HDFC and Axis rose more between 2008-09 (just before she took charge) and the end of 2017-18 (when loan scandal broke).