ICICI, Kotak, Axis, YES Bank post double-digit Q1 profit growth; HDFC Bank lags

4 min readMumbaiJul 18, 2026 07:21 PM IST

The five private banks – as well as IDBI Bank, whose profits were also up 5%, like HDFC Bank – reported their Q1 earnings on Saturday. (Image generated using AI)

Private sector lenders ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank – three of the top-4 private banks in the country – all reported big increases in their net profit for the April-June quarter, beating analysts’ estimates as their bottomlines posted double-digit increases on the back of healthy loan growth.

YES Bank, however, was the private bank which saw the sharpest profit growth of 34% as its bottomline rose to Rs 1,071 crore, driven by 18% rise in net interest income (NII) even as provisions were 39% higher from last year.

Meanwhile, HDFC Bank’s performance failed to beat the consensus view, with its net profit up 5%.

All the above five private banks – as well as IDBI Bank, whose profits were also up 5%, like HDFC Bank – reported their Q1 earnings on Saturday. Among public sector lenders, Punjab National Bank reported a three-fold increase in its profit compared to last year to Rs 5,253 crore, primarily due to the year-ago period containing a Rs 5,083-crore tax provision, which had hurt profitability. In the first quarter of the current financial year, while PNB’s profits rose sharply, its NII was up only 2%.

Net interest margins (NIM), a key profitability metric, remained under pressure across banks as they continued to weather the effects of the Reserve Bank of India’s 125 basis point repo rate cuts last year.

HDFC Bank

The country’s biggest private lender saw its net profit for Q1 rise by just 5% to Rs 19,060 crore, with NII – the interest income going into the bank’s kitty after paying out interest to all depositors – up nearly 7% at Rs 33,534 crore.

However, the bank – which has been in the news in recent months due to the abrupt resignation of part-time chair Atanu Chakraborty in March – saw its NIM continue to decline to 3.26%.

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On the asset quality front, the gross and net non-performing asset (NPA) ratios rose by 2 basis points and 3 bps, respectively, from March-end to 1.17% and 0.41% as at the end of June.

The NPA ratio measures the size of a bank’s bad loans – loans that have gone unpaid – as a percentage of loans it has given out.

While HDFC Bank’s provisions were slightly higher in April-June compared to the previous quarter, they were substantially lower from last year when it had used a large part of the proceeds from subsidiary HDB Financial’s IPO to clean and strengthen its balance sheet.

Kotak, Axis post 20%+ PAT growth

Kotak’s net profit jumped 26% to Rs 4,123 crore as it beat market expectations on the back of its provisions halving from the same period last year, although NII rose only 9% to Rs 7,928 crore.

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On the margin front, Kotak’s NIM declined to 4.53%, down 12 bps from last year and 14 bps sequentially. Gross and net NPA ratios were up 2 bps each from March-end at 1.18% and 0.27%, respectively.

Similarly, Axis Bank also beat Street estimates as its net profit surged 23% to Rs 7,114 crore, benefiting from a sharp decline in provisions. However, despite healthy loan growth of nearly 19%, NII rose 8% to Rs 14,646 crore.

Like the others, Axis Bank’s bad loan ratios were a few basis points higher at the end of June compared to the previous quarter at 1.28% (gross) and 0.39% (net). Its NIM fell by 16 bps sequentially to 3.46%.

ICICI Bank

India’s second-largest private bank posted a net profit that was up 16% from last year at Rs 14,805 crore. The better-than-expected bottomline was due to provisions being nearly a third lower than a year ago, while a robust 20% loan growth helped drive a 13% increase in NII to Rs 24,384 crore.

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ICICI Bank’s NIM rose 4 bps sequentially to 4.36% during the quarter. Its gross and net NPA ratio increased by 2 bps sequentially to 1.38% and 0.35%, respectively.