ICICI Bank 2012 Annual Report Download - page 5

have demonstrated our resilience in challenging
circumstances. That is what should give us the
confidence to project what we will be ten years
hence. Today, we have a solid foundation on which
to base our aspirations. If we want to look at
proxies and past experience, one need only look at
China. Research has shown that on a whole range
of indicators, two decades after we in India started
our reforms process, we are where China was
two decades after it commenced reforms. Indeed
one could argue that India’s growth model led by
domestic consumption and investment, and its
demographic dividend, will ensure a virtuous cycle
of growth for an even longer period of time.
It is for this potential that organisations have to
position themselves, while navigating short term
challenges and volatility. This is the strategic
approach at the ICICI Group. Over the last year,
the executive team has balanced the objectives
of growth, profitability and risk management in a
commendable manner, further strengthening the
balance sheet and the key drivers of profitability.
This strategy has been executed across all
businesses, while ensuring that capabilities
continue to be built to participate in the growth
opportunity that our country provides. The Board
continues to focus on a sound governance
framework that encourages this balance and
supports long-term sustainable value creation.
A key aspect of our nation’s growth agenda is
to make growth more inclusive. While we have
grown at a healthy pace and there has been
significant upward migration of household
incomes, we continue to have a large section
of the population that is deprived of the ability
to participate in this growth. We therefore need
focused efforts to enhance access – to financial
services, to healthcare, to education and to
skills that lead to employment. We also need
to improve the quality of delivery by existing
systems and institutions in each of these areas.
Through the ICICI Foundation, we are committing
not only financial resources but also intellectual
capital and management resources to each of
these areas, through programmes designed to
maximise the impact of our efforts.
I am confident about our country’s future and
about the growth and profitability of the ICICI
Group in the years ahead. The Group is strongly
positioned in each of its businesses and focused
on sustainable growth and profitability. We look
forward to the years ahead with excitement and
optimism.
With best wishes,
K.V. Kamath
Annual Report 2011-2012 3