ICICI Bank 2014 Annual Report Download - page 48

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Business Overview
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has nine branches. ICICI Bank Eurasia, our Russian subsidiary, is headquartered in Moscow with a branch
in St. Petersburg.
During fiscal 2014, the global economic environment was characterised by gradual recovery in advanced
economies and volatility in emerging economies. In this environment, we continued to focus on managing
the risks in our international operations. We also focused on diversifying the mix of our funding profile
in our international operations. We continued to focus on expanding our trade finance business and our
relationships with global corporates doing business in India.
India continues to remain the largest remittance receiving country in the world and ICICI Bank has a
significant market share in remittances. This has been made possible through our diversified products,
technology initiatives and service offerings to meet the requirements of the widely dispersed NRI
diaspora. The emphasis in fiscal 2014 was on further expanding access to remittance services through
new partnerships and channels and delivering a superior customer experience.
Rural & Inclusive Banking
Rural India is complex and transforming rapidly with expansion in rural consumption, access to mobile
telephony and social mobility among others. While agriculture continues to engage around half the
country’s total workforce, the rural economy has grown to encompass both farm and non-farm sources
of livelihood. The Bank’s vision is to emerge as a leading institution for enabling growth and inclusion
in the rural economy. To accomplish its vision, the Bank’s strategy is to expand in the rural markets,
leverage its strengths in technology and deliver relevant products and services to the rural and unbanked
population through a multi-channel network.
A key pillar of our strategy is to provide branch banking access to the rural customers. In line with this
philosophy, more than 75% of our new branches in fiscal 2014 were added in the rural and semi-urban
areas, and 52% of the Bank’s overall branch network is now in these areas. 317 branches have been
opened in unbanked villages in fiscal 2014. During fiscal 2014, the Bank launched “Branch on Wheels“,
a mobile van based branch that aims at providing banking services to a cluster of remote unbanked
villages. This initiative, a first of its kind by a private sector bank, has been launched in the three states
of Maharashtra, Chattisgarh and Odisha. It offers all basic banking products and services including
savings accounts, farmer loans, cash deposit/withdrawal, funds transfer/demand draft collections and an
Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
As part of its endeavour to provide basic banking services to the unbanked, ICICI Bank offers holistic
banking services through its Business Correspondent (BC) channel, including savings accounts,
remittances, fixed and recurring deposits and credit. The Bank has opened 17.8 million basic saving
bank deposit accounts at March 31, 2014, which is the highest among private sector banks. The Bank
has reached out to over 15,500 villages through its branches and BC network. During fiscal 2014, the
Bank continued to be a leading provider of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) services which allows state
Governments to transfer funds directly to the beneficiaries’ accounts thereby facilitating timely receipt
of money by the beneficiaries and minimising leakages. The Bank has initiated EBT payment facilities in
72 districts across 13 states. As part of its urban financial inclusion initiatives, the Bank has processed
about 5.0 million domestic migrant remittances till date. This service allows migrant workers to send
money back to their families in a transparent and convenient manner. The Bank conducts village level
financial literacy workshops called ‘Gram Samvad’ across the country for customer interactions and
uses innovative and engaging methods like comic books and audio visual as media for promoting
financial literacy.