The ICICI board is expected to declare a dividend of Rs 6-6.50 on a Rs 10 share. The institution had recorded a 40 per cent growth in net profit during 1997-98 and paid a dividend of Rs 5.50 per share.

The challenges before ICICI during the year were to maintain asset growth against the backdrop of industrial recession, controlling cost of funds and diversifying its revenue base, note the analysts.

Banking analysts expect ICICI to maitain a good profit growth-between 25 and 35 per cent- during the year largely because of its aggressive business strategy and new product launches.

It has shown handsome growth both in sanctions as well as disbursementsduring fiscal 1999 overtaking the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI).

The ICICI scrip recorded a high of Rs 46.45 and low of Rs 41.85 during the last fortnight.

ICICI's profit after tax for the third quater in 1998-99 amounted to Rs 726 crore which represented an increase of 17 per cent over the corresponding figure of Rs 622 crore (excluding extraordinary income and adjusted for ITC Classic' losses).

The institution's profit after tax during the first half of fiscal 1999 went up by 25 to Rs 518 crore.

On the back of higher disbursements, the total income from operations is set to go up substantially, analysts said. On the other hand, there is unlikely to be any impact on the institution's interest expenses as there has been marginal softening of interest rates for the institution's bond issues during the last quarter of the year. The provisioning for bad debt might also come down, analysts said.

ICICI has recorded a substantial growth in approvals and disbursals in both 1997-98 and1998-99. In 1997-98, its disbursements had gone up by 41 per cent while sanctions had surged by 75 per cent. During 1998-99, ICICI's sanctions were pegged at Rs 34,220 crore and disbursements at Rs 19,225 crore recording a grwoth of 38 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.The institution has been able to maintain a steady growth in infrstructure financing during 1998-99 which had grown by 22 per cent. The share of the short-term and medium-term disbursals by the institution has gone up to 33 per cent during the year.

The main area of concern for the analysts, however, remains to be the non-performing assets (NPA) of the institution. The net NPA ratio marginally declined from 7.8 per cent in September 1998 to 7.5 per cent in December 1998. In absolute term, the net NPA was pegged at Rs 3.334 crore in December. The net NPA was increased by Rs 103 crore during the third quarter ended December 1998 as compared to an increase of Rs 429 crore during the half-year ended September 1998.