ICICI Bank 2006 Annual Report Download - page 6

5
Annual Report 2005-2006
saving-investment balance imparts stability and
provides the foundation for sustained growth.
India today is indeed at the cusp of a paradigm
change in its growth trajectory and its position in
the world.
The ICICI group has built sound growth platforms
for capitalising on the opportunities arising out of
the sustained growth of the Indian economy. We
identified retail finance as the key growth
opportunity at the beginning of the decade and
built a scalable platform for capitalising on this
opportunity. Today we continue to maintain our
leadership position in retail credit across the full
spectrum of products. We also continue to
maintain our leadership position among private
sector in life and non-life insurance providers. We
have deepened our relationships with the
corporate sector to offer a full suite of products
like transaction banking, foreign exchange and
derivatives apart from working capital loans and
project finance. International business, the third
horizon of our growth, has seen rapid progress in
the last year. We are now present in 13
geographies and are serving the banking needs
of Indian corporates going global and the Indian
diaspora present across the world. We have used
technology as a key enabler and differentiator for
all our growth platforms. This has allowed us to
achieve efficient intermediation by enabling rapid
scale up and at the same time offer the best class
service to our customers.
A critical factor in the long-term sustainability of
social development and economic prosperity in
India is bringing the benefits of economic growth
to rural India. It is only by delivering financial
services to people in rural areas that they can be
brought within the ambit of mainstream economic
activity and the full potential of the country’s
physical and human resources can be realised.
We see the rural markets as the next horizon of
growth for us and are creating a holistic
proposition to address this opportunity. Our
strategy is to offer a full spectrum of products to
meet the needs of various segments of the rural
population through a combination of innovative
channels, in a profitable manner. We are using
technology extensively to address the challenges
associated with delivery of financial services in
rural areas. Our rural portfolio has more than
doubled in the last year and we hope to
significantly scale up our operations in the future.
Given the long terms prospects of the economy
and opportunities in each of our areas of business
we strengthened our capital base by raising
additional equity capital of about Rs. 80.00 billion
This has significantly enhanced our ability to
capitalise on the growth opportunities.
We believe that we have created a sound platform
in each of the areas of opportunity presented by
the Indian economy. We also have the required
financial, human and technical resources to build
a superstructure on this foundation and create
value for all our stakeholders. We look forward to
your continued support in this endeavour.
K.V. KAMATH
Managing Director & CEO