India's strong economy has raised demand for bank loans

ICICI Bank had quarterly net profits of 5.17bn rupees ($118.5m; �63.71m) for the September to December 2004.

India's rapid economic growth has boosted lending, with it bank revenue.

The bank's deputy managing director, Kalpana Morparia, said a strong upturn in the manufacturing sector had bolstered its financial performance.

"The strong performance is a reflection of robust pick-up in the manufacturing sector", she said.

Ms Morparia said she expected a 40% credit growth for the banking sector in the current fiscal year as the bank's own surveys reveal that many major Indian firms have lined up investment plans.

India's Central Bank data shows that total loans grew by 10.3 trillion rupees in the final quarter of 2004, an increase of 10% on the previous three month period, and of 31% on year-earlier.

ICICI Bank's income in the September to December period was 32.7bn rupees, compared to 30.3bn rupees in the year-earlier period, while fee-based income such as that from insurance and credit cards grew 83% to 5.6bn rupees.