Mumbai, May 9 (IANS): Private sector lender ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a 26 per cent year-on-year rise in its standalone net profit for the fourth quarter of 2019-20.

According to the bank, its net profit during the quarter under review rose to Rs 1,221 crore from Rs 969 crore reported for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

"Excluding Covid-19 related provisions, the profit after tax would have been Rs 3,260 crore (US$ 431 million)," the statement said.

Similarly, the bank's net interest income (NII) during the fourth quarter rose to Rs 8,297 crore from Rs 7,620 crore earned during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The bank made provisions (excluding Covid-19 related provisions and provision for tax) worth Rs 3,242 crore during the quarter under review, as compared with the Rs 2,725 crore provisioning in the same quarter of 2018-19.

"This provision made by the Bank is more than the requirement as per the Reserve Bank of India's guideline dated April 17, 2020," the statement said.

In terms of the full fiscal 2019-20, the bank's standalone profit after tax rose to Rs 7,931 crore compared with Rs 3,363 crore in FY2019.

"The government of India reduced the tax rate applicable to corporates in September 2019," the statement said.

"The impact of this change on the tax expense for FY2020, including both the one-time additional charge due to re-measurement of accumulated deferred tax asset at March 31, 2019, and the tax expense at lower rate for FY2020, was Rs 1,391 crore (US$ 184 million)."

"Excluding the impact of change in tax rate during the year and the Covid-19 related provisions, the profit after tax would have been Rs 11,360 crore (US$ 1.5 billion) for FY2020."