HDFC Bank vs ICICI Bank: Which private lender performed better in Q1FY26? Check revenue, net profit and other details

Between the two players, who performed better? Let's find out.

Core business growth

Advances growth remained a key and widely tracked metric for both the private lenders. ICICI Bank outperformed the country’s largest private lender by a substantial margin as it reported 12% year-on-year (YoY) and 1.5% QoQ growth in advances. Meanwhile, HDFC Bank reported 8.3% YoY and a 1.7% QoQ increase in advances to ₹27,42,300 crore in the reporting quarter.

For HDFC Bank, the retail segment grew by 8.1% YoY, while the corporate advances grew at a slower pace of 1.7% on a yearly basis. However, on a quarterly basis, it witnessed a de-growth of 1.3%. The retail:corporate ratio for the bank stood at 57:43 as compared to 56:44 in the same period last year.

On the other hand, ICICI Bank’s overall lending growth saw strong double-digit growth, which was led by a judicious mix of retail and corporate segment growth. The retail and corporate advances grew by 6.9% YoY and 7.5% YoY, respectively, for the quarter. ICICI Bank too witnessed a sequential contraction in corporate lending growth.

The deposit growth for HDFC Bank remained strong at 16.5% YoY to ₹26,57,600 crore, while for ICICI Bank, the total deposits grew by 12.8% YoY to ₹16,08,500 crore. ICICI Bank held a superior CASA ratio of 38.7% as against 34% of HDFC Bank for the Q1FY26.

Core income growth

In terms of the core income growth category, ICICI Bank stood superior with a 10.6% YoY growth in the net interest income at ₹21,600 crore, while HDFC Bank’s net income grew by 5.6% YoY to ₹31,400 crore. HDFC Bank posted a major jump in the non-interest income (NII) category due to proceeds from the public issue of HDB Financial Services, where HDFC Bank pared its stake worth ₹10,000 crore.

Whereas ICICI Bank’s non-interest income grew by 13% YoY to ₹7,200 crore for the Q1FY26. The proceeds from the public issue enabled HDFC Bank to fund the floating provisions for contingency. Before accounting for the IPO income, the overall non-interest income will remain at more than 10% for the bank, which is in line with industry trends.

The net interest margins (NIM) for both banks saw tepid growth. However, ICICI Bank took the lead with 4.34% as the net-interest margin for the bank. On the other hand, HDFC Bank reported 3.4% net-interest margin a slight 10 bps contraction as compared to the previous year’s similar quarter.

Asset quality

In terms of asset quality, both banks saw a slight change in the GNPA for the quarter. HDFC Bank’s GNPA for the quarter stood at 1.4% vs 1.3% in the year-ago quarter and the previous quarter. Similarly, ICICI Bank’s GNPA for the quarter stood at 1.6% for Q1FY26 as compared to 2.15% in Q1FY25 and unchanged as compared to the previous quarter.

While the net NPA (NNPA) for the ICICI Bank slightly jumped to 0.41% from the previous quarter at 0.39% as the provisioning for the quarter remained unchanged. Similarly, the net NPA for the HDFC Bank stood at 0.5% as compared to 0.4% in the previous quarter and Q1FY25.

Overall, the asset quality remains resilient for both banks and does not indicate any particular stress in the balance sheet for the banks.

Profitability

In terms of profitability, the profit after tax or net profit for HDFC Bank grew by 12.2% YoY at ₹18,100 crore, despite a steep jump in the provisions. Whereas the ICICI bank’s profitability saw a higher growth of 15.5% at ₹12,700 crore for Q1FY26. The overall profitability remained strong for both the private sector lender despite accounting for higher provisions in a low credit growth period.

In summary, ICICI Bank posted a superior performance on major fronts for the quarter. The bank maintained a judicious balance in corporate and retail advances growth, which helped in aiding better margins than the rival HDFC Bank.