By Nupur Acharya 
 

MUMBAI--India's ICICI Bank Ltd. (532174.BY) Friday topped expectations to report a 21% on-year jump in its fiscal fourth quarter standalone net profit as demand for loans remained strong.

Net profit for the January-March period jumped to 23.04 billion rupees ($424 million) from 19.02 billion rupees a year earlier, the country's second-largest bank by assets said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

The average in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of six brokerage houses was for a net profit of 22.03 billion rupees.

Private sector lenders like ICICI, HDFC Bank Ltd. (500180.BY) and Axis Bank Ltd. (532215.BY) continue to post strong growth in profits on the back of strong demand for loans from individual buyers of homes and new vehicles while corporate demand remains muted.

Net interest income, the equivalent of revenues for companies in other sectors, was 38.03 billion rupees, up 22%.

Write to Nupur Acharya at nupur.acharya@dowjones.com

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