* Net profit 30.3 bln rupees vs 30.24 bln estimate
* Agrees to sell 9 pct in gen insurance JV to partner
Fairfax
* Bad loans stable
(Adds insurance JV stake sale, details of results)
MUMBAI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd ICBK.NS , India's
top private sector lender by assets, reported a 12 percent
increase in quarterly profit due to faster retail loans growth.
The bank also said on Friday it agreed to sell a 9 percent
stake in its general insurance joint venture to partner Fairfax
Financial Holdings Ltd FFH.TO in a deal that would value the
venture - ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co Ltd - at $2.6
billion.
India's banking sector has been hobbled by slower loan
growth and a surge in bad loans as economic growth slowed in the
past three years.
State-run lenders who dominate the nation's banking system
with a more than 70 percent share of loans, also account for
bulk of the bad loans estimated at nearly $50 billion.
Among the private sector lenders, ICICI, which is also
listed in New York IBN.N , has the highest bad loans in
absolute terms.
ICICI's gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans were
3.77 percent in the September quarter, compared with 3.68
percent in the previous three months. The bank has previously
said it had stepped up monitoring and recovery of bad loans and
was reducing concentration of top corporate borrowers.
Net profit rose to 30.3 billion rupees ($465 million)for its
fiscal second quarter to Sept. 30 from 27.09 billion rupees
reported a year earlier, ICICI said in a statement.
Analysts on average had expected the lender, categorised by
the central bank as one of the two "too big to fail" banks, to
report a net profit of 30.24 billion rupees.
Net interest income in the September quarter grew 13 percent
on year on the back of a 17 percent growth in domestic loans.
Retail loans within the total grew at a faster pace of 25
percent from a year ago period.
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd KTKM.NS , India's fourth-biggest
private sector lender by assets, earlier on Friday posted a 28
percent increase in quarterly profit and a stable bad loan
ratio. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N12U3E7
($1 = 65.1600 Indian rupees)