ICICI Bank 2009 Annual Report Download - page 34

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Business Overview
 Global Markets Group, comprising our global client-centric treasury operations.
 Corporate Centre, comprising financial reporting; planning and strategy; asset liability management; investor
relations; secretarial; corporate communications; risk management; compliance; internal audit; legal; financial
crime prevention and reputation risk management; and the Bank’s proprietary trading operations across
various markets.
 Human Resources Management Group, which is responsible for the Bank’s recruitment, training, leadership
development and other personnel management functions and initiatives.
 Global Operations & Middle Office Groups, which are responsible for back-office operations, controls and
monitoring for our domestic and overseas operations.
 Organisational Excellence Group, which is responsible for enterprise-wide quality and process improvement
initiatives.
 Technology Management Group, which is responsible for enterprise-wide technology initiatives, with dedicated
teams serving individual business groups and managing information security and shared infrastructure.
 Global Infrastructure & Administration Group, which is responsible for management of corporate facilities
and administrative support functions.
BUSINESS REVIEW
Fiscal 2009 was a year of unprecedented volatility. The first half of the year saw high inflation and interest rates but
the business environment continued to be robust with continued investments by the corporate sector. However,
the second half of the year was impacted by the global financial and liquidity crisis and loss of business confidence.
Given the volatile operating environment, the focus of the Bank was on capital conservation, liquidity management
and risk containment. At the same time we continued to grow our branch network with a focus on increasing our
low cost and retail deposit base while maintaining a strict control on operating expenses.
Retail Banking
Fiscal 2009 saw a further slowdown in retail credit growth in the banking system due to a volatile interest rate
environment, high asset prices and the impact of economic slowdown on consumer spending. Retail credit growth
of scheduled commercial banks has now decreased from about 30% over the last few years to about 15% in fiscal
2008 and to less than 10% in fiscal 2009.
The retail credit business requires a high level of credit and analytical skills and strong operations processes
backed by technology. Our retail strategy is centered on a wide distribution network, comprising our branches
and offices and dealer and real estate developer relationships; a comprehensive and competitive product suite;
technology-enabled back-office processes; and a robust credit and analytical framework.
During fiscal 2009, we focused on risk containment in the retail credit business. We tightened our lending norms
and moderated our disbursements, especially in the unsecured retail loans segment. However, we continue to
believe that retail credit has robust long-term growth potential, driven by sound fundamentals, namely, rising
income levels and favourable demographic profile. We are the largest provider of retail credit in India with a total
retail portfolio of Rs. 1,062.03 billion at March 31, 2009, constituting 49% of our total loans.
During fiscal 2009, we focused on increasing the proportion of low-cost retail deposits in our funding base.
Our current and savings account (CASA) deposits as a percentage of total deposits increased from 26.1% at
March 31, 2008 to 28.7% at March 31, 2009. We continued to expand our branch network during the year. Our
branch network has now increased from 755 branches & extension counters at March 31, 2007 to 1,262 branches
& extension counters at March 31, 2008 and 1,419 branches & extension counters at March 31, 2009. We have also
received licenses for 580 additional branches from RBI. Our strategy is to fully leverage the branch network for
sales and service of the entire range of liability, asset and fee-based products and services to retail customers.
In conjunction with the expansion in branch network, we have continued to expand our electronic channels, namely
internet banking, mobile banking, call centres and ATMs, and migrate customer transaction volumes to these
channels. We increased our ATM network to 4,713 ATMs at March 31, 2009 from 3,881 ATMs at March 31, 2008.
Our call centres have a total seating capacity of approximately 4,150 sales and service workstations. Transaction
volumes on internet and mobile banking have grown significantly, constituting an increasing percentage of total
customer transactions.
Cross-selling new products and also the products of our life and general insurance subsidiaries to our existing
customers is a key focus area for the Bank. Cross-sell allows us to deepen our relationship with our existing
customers and helps us reduce origination costs as well as earn fee income. The expanded branch network has