shares fell 3.03 per cent to ₹1,368.10 on Monday afternoon, despite brokerages maintaining a positive outlook following the bank’s mixed third-quarter results and the announcement of CEO Sandeep Bakhshi’s tenure extension.
The stock traded in a range of ₹1,360-1,400 during the session, with sell orders dominating at 64.86 per cent against 35.14 per cent buy orders. Trading volumes remained robust at 130.33 lakh shares, valued at ₹1,788 crore.
The market reaction comes after ICICI Bank reported a profit after tax of ₹11,320 crore for Q3FY26, down 4 per cent year-on-year and 8.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter. The decline was primarily driven by an unexpected RBI-mandated standard asset provision of ₹1,283 crore on an agri priority sector credit portfolio worth ₹20,000-25,000 crore, flagged during the regulator’s annual supervisory review for non-compliance with priority sector norms.
Leading brokerages have retained their buy ratings despite the provision impact. Anand Rathi maintained its buy recommendation with a target price of ₹1,713, valuing the core bank at 2.5 times FY28 price-to-adjusted book value. Systematix Institutional Equities raised its target to ₹1,770 from ₹1,590, while SBI Securities pegged fair value at ₹1,700-1,750. All three firms highlighted the board’s approval of Bakhshi’s two-year extension until October 2028 as a significant positive, removing a major overhang.
Analysts noted that excluding one-time provisions, core pre-provisioning operating profit grew 6-7 per cent year-on-year. Credit growth accelerated to 11.5 per cent annually, while net interest margins remained stable at 4.30 per cent. Asset quality stayed resilient with gross non-performing assets at 1.53 per cent.
However, concerns persist around elevated credit costs in coming quarters as the bank works toward regularising the flagged agri portfolio. The stock is currently trading at a price-to-book multiple of 3.0 times FY26 estimated book value.