(Reuters) - ICICI Bank Ltd, India's third-largest lender by assets, reported its first quarterly net loss in at least 16 years on Friday on higher provisions for bad loans and hurt by bond losses.
Net loss was 1.2 billion rupees ($17.5 million) in the three months to June 30, compared with a profit of 20.49 billion rupees a year earlier, the bank said in a statement.
Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 14.62 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans was 8.81 percent at the end of June, compared with 8.84 percent at the end of the previous quarter, and 7.99 percent a year earlier.
The results come amid uncertainties around the bank's long-serving Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar, who is on leave as a probe continues into alleged nepotism charges against her.
ICICI Bank, which holds the highest amount of bad loans among the country's private-sector lenders, added 40.36 billion rupees in additional non-performing loans during the quarter, taking its total outstanding to 534.65 billion rupees.
Even if the bad loan additions in the June quarter were the slowest in 11 quarters, the bank said it had to make higher provisions for ageing non-performing loans and cases in bankruptcy court, leading to the net loss.
Total provisions more than doubled from a year earlier to 59.71 billion rupees with the bank not availing a central bank dispensation of spreading bond losses over four quarters.
ICICI shares closed 2.6 percent higher in Mumbai trading ahead of the results. In pre-market trading in New York, the stock was down 0.5 percent by 1247 GMT after the results.
($1 = 68.6800 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates and Keith Weir)
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