Credit rating agency -- Fitch Ratings has affirmed ICICI Bank's rating at ‘BB+’ with a negative outlook and retained the lender's viability rating at ‘BB’. The negative outlook comes despite the agency recently revising upwards the operating environment outlook of domestic banks to stable from negative, citing better than expected recovery in business and economic activity following the COVID-19 second wave.
The bank's appetite for risk, even though it is lower than before the pandemic, has weighed on its financial metrics in the past several years, particularly in terms of asset quality and earnings.
ICICI Bank is a leading private sector bank in India.
