High provisions, poor asset quality hit pvt banks in Q1

Falling asset quality, rising provisions and continuing pressure on net interest took a toll on the earnings of private sector banks in the first quarter of FY26.

- KSHIPRA PETKAR

FALLING ASSET QUALITY, rising provisions and continuing pressure on net interest took a toll on the earnings of private sector banks in the first quarter of FY26. However, this was largely in line with analyst expectations.

Overall, the net profit of 15 private sector banks fell 3.3% year-on-year. This data includes the top five — HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and IndusInd Bank — who have announced their Q1 numbers till now.

Among the Nifty-50 banks, ICICI Bank saw highest year-on-year growth in net profit, rising 15.5% on year to ₹12,768.2 crore. This was followed by HDFC Bank which reported a net profit of ₹18,155 crore, up 12.2% on year. IndusInd Bank saw a net profit of ₹684 crore after reporting a loss of over ₹2,000 crore in the previous quarter.