Weak rain to have litttle impact on ICICI loan book: Kochhar

The weak monsoon would have a negligible impact on ICICI Bank’s loan book since the size of this portfolio is quite small, said Chanda Kochhar, its managing director and chief executive officer.

While speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of an event on risk management organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Kochhar said ICICI Bank would watch the drought situation closely to assess the impact of deficient monsoon on agriculture and therefore on economic and loan growth.

Agriculture loan book was about 6 per cent of total advances at the end of June 2009.

“It is little premature right now to quantify the impact of monsoon situation. I think we need to see the direct impact of agriculture, which in a way is small. But, the indirect impact could happen through rural consumption,” she said.

She added that the bank would continue to focus on mortgages and auto loans in the coming quarters. ICICI Bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) grew 10.6 per cent to Rs 9,416.32 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2009 as compared to Rs 8,511.36 crore in the corresponding period last year mainly due to bad loans on the unsecured retail loan book.

The lender has made it clear that it is consolidating its portfolio and will only look to grow its secured loan book in the coming quarter.