ICICI Bank 2005 Annual Report Download - page 6

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Dear Stakeholders,
Fiscal 2005 was a momentous year for the
Indian economy and for us at the ICICI group.
The Indian economy displayed maturity and
resilience in the face of changing global trends
and low growth in agriculture, conclusively
demonstrating the robust fundamentals
underlying the growth momentum that we have
seen in recent years. The ICICI group marked its
th
50 year by consolidating its leadership position
in various businesses and achieving strong
growth in each area of its operations. This was
made possible by our focus on building
platforms for growth over the past several
Letter from the Managing Director & CEO
4
years. I would like to take this opportunity to talk
about the evolution of our strategy and these
growth platforms, and the new dimensions that
we see opening up for us in the coming years.
In 1996, mid-way through the first decade after
India embarked on economic reforms, we
looked at our businesses in the context of the
evolving landscape of the economy and the
financial sector. We were essentially a single
product company, offering only long-term
project finance to the corporate sector, with
significant risk concen trations. As Indian
industry itself went through a deep structural
cha n g e in a gl o b a l i s e d co m p e t i t i v e
environment, there were challenges posed by
the impact of globalisation on the operations of
many of our clients - but also opportunities for
profitable growth. We quickly took steps to
diversify our product portfolio to capitalise on
the full range of opportunities in the corporate
sector as well as proactively address the impact
of the challenges the industrial sector was
facing. We saw the need to strengthen our
balance sheet and accessed the international
markets for capital.
In 1998, we embarked on a transformational
change with our entry into retail finance. Our
strategy was underpinned by two fundamental
beliefs - firstly, that the market for retail financial
services in India would witness explosive
growth; and secondly, that large-scale use of
technology was the key to success in this
business. This process of change and
diversification was a major challenge for an
organisation that had dealt only with corporate
clients for four decades of its existence. We
made significant investments in technology,
both at customer touchpoints and at back-
offices. We created a new distribution model for
retail credit, moving the sales interface to the
point-of-sale of the product being financed or
indeed, to the customer’s home or office. We
put in p lace robust credit approval and
Dickenson Tel: 022-2625 2282