For analysts at ICICI Bank, it is not the time to worry about the fourth-quarter earnings miss as they expect better growth, higher net interest margins (NIMs) and lower credit costs going ahead.

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Most brokerages have retained their bullish forecasts for the private sector lender despite it reporting a 5 percent drop in the fourth-quarter net profit, as they expect earnings recovery in FY20 and FY21.

"Its earnings are set to rebound from FY20 (raise estimates by 1 percent -3 percent) and we see a core ROE (return on equity) of 15 percent in FY21," brokerage CLSA wrote in a note to clients.

ICICI Bank's management has maintained its RoE target at 15 percent until June 2020.

CLSA expects ICICI Bank's slippage to stabilise around 2 percent of the past year’s loans in FY20. It has reiterated a 'Buy' rating with a new target price of Rs 500 (from Rs 470 earlier).

Macquarie also raised its target price to Rs 465 from Rs 450 per share, saying the Q4 profit miss was due to higher provisions and write-offs.

ICICI Bank’s fourth-quarter profit was below expectations due to higher credit costs and increased provisioning.

According to CLSA, "downside to credit costs could arise from the recovery from NCLT cases, especially the steel sector."

Meanwhile, Nomura expects NIMs to inch up 10 basis points in FY20, and RoEs to rise to15.5 percent in FY21 and 16 percent in FY22.

At 10:13 AM, ICICI Bank stock was down 0.29 percent to Rs 400.15 per share on the National Stock Exchange.