Rajesh Agarwal of CD Equisearch has suggested the shareowners to stay invested in ICICI Bank for long term.

Agarwal told, “In ICICI Bank funds, but because of interest rates stabilizing the margins will be better this time. It is currently quoting at a PE of 28, I think the bank has a very good long-term prospect and one could hold for a long term. The price target would be in the range of Rs 1,100-1,150 in a period of 6-9 months.”

ICICI Bank registered 25% growth in net profit to Rs 7,750.80 million for the first quarter ended June 2007 as against Rs 6,200.1 million in the same quarter of the last year (2006).

The operating income of the India’s biggest private sector lender ascended 50.16% to Rs 75,661.30 million for the quarter from Rs 50,386.30 million in the corresponding quarter, last year.

In comparison, total income for the same period also climbed 46.94% to Rs 92,814.20 million from Rs 63,161.9 million. The earnings per share (EPS) for the same period arose 23.7% to Rs 8.61.

Raising $5 billion through a follow-on equity offering may see the country’s largest private sector entity, ICICI Bank breaking into the top 100 financial institutions in the world, in terms of market capitalisation. The bank, whose current market capitalisation is $18.89 billion (Rs 77,834 crore), presently stands at the 111th position among the top 150 financial institutions in the world, when compared on an m-cap basis. Raising $5 billion through the equity offer will take ICICI Bank to a position of 84 in this list.