c c c
 (NSE: ICICIBANK, BSE: 532174, NYSE: IBN) (formerly c






c   


 

c, Marathi: ¦¦ ¦¦ ¦¦ ) is a major banking
and financial services organization in India. It is the second largest bank in India and the largest
private sector bank in India by market capitalization. The bank also has a network of 2,016
branches (as on 31 March 2010) and about 5,219 ATMs in India and presence in 18 countries, as
well as some 24 million customers (at the end of July 2007). ICICI Bank offers a wide range of
banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of
delivery channels and specialization subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment
banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. (These data are
dynamic.) ICICI Bank is also the largest issuer of credit cards in India. ICICI Bank's shares are
listed on the stock exchanges at BSE, NSE, Kolkata and Vadodara (formerly Baroda) ; its ADRs
trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The Bank is expanding in overseas markets and has the largest international balance sheet among
Indian banks. ICICI Bank now has wholly owned subsidiaries, branches and representatives
offices in 19 countries, including an offshore unit in Mumbai. This includes wholly owned
subsidiaries in Canada, Russia and the UK (the subsidiary through which the HiSAVE savings
brandis operated), offshore banking units in Bahrain and Singapore, an advisory branch in Dubai,
branches in Belgium, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, and representative offices in Bangladesh,
China, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and USA.
Overseas, the Bank is targeting the NRI (Non-Resident Indian) population in particular.

ICICI reported a 1.15% rise in net profit to 1,014.21 crore on a 1.29% increase in total income to
9,712.31 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007. The bank's CASA ratio
increased to 30% in 2008 from 25% in 2007. ICICI Bank is one of the Ê
Ê
of India,
along with State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank Bank of india and Canara Bank ² its
main competitors.

  


In 1955, The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Limited (ICICI) was
incorporated at the initiative of World Bank, the Government of India and representatives of
Indian industry, with the objective of creating a development financial institution for providing
medium-term and long-term project financing to Indian businesses. In 1994, ICICI established
Banking Corporation as a banking subsidiary. Formerly known as Industrial Credit and
Investment Corporation of India, ICICI Banking Corporation was later renamed as 'ICICI Bank
Limited'. ICICI founded a separate legal entity, ICICI Bank, to undertake normal banking
operations - taking deposits, credit cards, car loans etc. In 2001, ICICI acquired Bank of Madura
(est. 1943). Bank of Madura was a Chettiar bank, and had acquired Chettinad Mercantile Bank
(est. 1933) and Illanji Bank (established 1904) in the 1960s. In 2002, The Boards of Directors of
ICICI and ICICI Bank approved the reverse merger of ICICI, ICICI Personal Financial Services
Limited and ICICI Capital Services Limited, into ICICI Bank. After receiving all necessary
regulatory approvals, ICICI integrated the group's financing and banking operations, both
wholesale and retail, into a single entity. At the same time, ICICI started its international
expansion by opening representative offices in New York and London. In India, ICICI Bank
bought the Shimla and Darjeeling branches that Standard Chartered Bank had inherited when it
acquired Grindlays Bank.

In 2003, ICICI opened subsidiaries in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK), and in the UK it
established an alliance with Lloyds TSB. It also opened an Offshore Banking Unit (OBU) in
Singapore and representative offices in Dubai and Shanghai. In 2004, ICICI opened a
representative office in Bangladesh to tap the extensive trade between that country, India and
South Africa. In 2005, ICICI acquired Investitsionno-Kreditny Bank (IKB), a Russia bank with
about US$4mn in assets, head office in Balabanovo in the Kaluga region, and with a branch in
Moscow. ICICI renamed the bank ICICI Bank Eurasia. Also, ICICI established a branch in
Dubai International Financial Centre and in Hong Kong. In 2006, ICICI Bank UK opened a
branch in Antwerp, in Belgium. ICICI opened representative offices in Bangkok, Jakarta, and
Kuala Lumpur. In 2007, ICICI amalgamated Sangli Bank, which was headquartered in Sangli, in
Maharashtra State, and which had 158 branches in Maharashtra and another 31 in Karnataka
State. Sangli Bank had been founded in 1916 and was particularly strong in rural areas. With
respect to the international sphere, ICICI also received permission from the government of Qatar
to open a branch in Doha. Also, ICICI Bank Eurasia opened a second branch, this time in St.
Petersburg. In 2008, The US Federal Reserve permitted ICICI to convert its representative office
in New York into a branch. ICICI also established a branch in Frankfurt. In 2009, ICICI made
huge changes in its organisation like elimination of loss making department and restreching
outsourced staff or renegotiate their charges in consequent to the recession. In addition to this,
ICICI adopted a massive approach aims for cost control and cost cutting. In consequent of it,
compesation to staff was not increased and no bonus declared for 2008-09.

On 23 May ICICI Bank announced that it would merge with Bank of Rajasthan through a share-
swap in a non-cash deal that values the Bank of Rajasthan at about 3,000 crore. ICICI announced
that the merger expand ICICI Bank's branch network by 25%.[9][10][11]

On 18h October 2010, ICICI will inaugurate I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer
option for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). This service will be available through the ICICI Bank's
select partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council. [12]

m
 

O I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option.
O ICICI Lombard
O ICICI Prudential

à
 

O 2005 - Investitsionno-Kreditny Bank (IKB), a Russian bank
O 2007 - Sangli Bank , Maharashtra State
O 23
 - Bank of Rajasthan
 



ICICI Bank has been in focus in recent years because of alleged harassment of customers by its
recovery agents. Listed below are some of the related news links:

O ICICI Bank was fined 55 lakh for hiring goons (known coloquially as "goondas") to
recover a loan. Recovery agents had, allegedly, forcibly dragged out a youth (who was
not even the borrower) from the car, beaten him up with iron rods and left him bleeding
as they drove away with the vehicle. "We hold ICICI Bank guilty of the grossest kind of
deficiency in service and unfair trade practice for breach of terms of contract of hire-
purchase/loan agreement by seizing the vehicle illegally","No civilised society governed
by the rule of law can brook such kind of conduct" said Justice Kaleem, who was born in
Laddhawala, Muzaffarnagar is the president of the consumer commission. Four ICICI
loan employees arrested on theft charges in Punjab ICICI Bank told to pay 1 lakh as
compensation for using unlawful recovery methodsRBI warns ICICI Bank for coercive
methods to recover loansICICI Bank drives customer to suicide - Four men including an
employee of ICICI Bank booked under sections 452, 306, 506 (II) and 34 of IPC for
abetting suicide. According to the suicide note they advised him, "If you cannot repay the
bank loan, sell off your wife, your kids, yourself, sell everything at your home. Even then
if you cannot not pay back the due amount, then it's better if you commit suicide." India
biggest private bank has compensated the life by money ICICI Bank on huge car
recovery scam in Goa - ICICI Bank invest in car-jackers to recover loans in Goa. A half
an hour investigative report on CNN-IBN's 30 Minutes. The under cover report was
executed by CNN-IBN's Special Investigations Team from Mumbai, led by Ruksh
Chatterji
O Family of Y. Yadaiah alleged that he was beaten to death by ICICI Bank¶s recovery
agents, for failing to pay the dues. Four persons were arrested in this caseA father while
talking to Times of India, alleged that "ICICI Bank recovery agents visited his house and
threatened his family. And his son Nikhil consumed poison because of the
tension".Oppressed by ICICI Bank's loan recovery agents, Shakuntala Joshi (38),
committed suicide by hanging. The suicide note stated that she was upset with the ill-
treatment meted out by ICICI Bank's recovery agents and had thus decided to end her
lifeIn another case of a suicide it is alleged that µgoondas¶ sent by ICICI Bank abused
Himanshu and his wife in front of the entire residential colony before taking away his
vehicle. Feeling frustrated and insulted, he reportedly committed suicide.
O C.L.N Murthy, a scientist with the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical
Technology, was allegedly tortured by recovery agents of ICICI Bank after he defaulted
on his loan.³They humiliated me no end. They ripped my shirt, shaved my moustache,
cut my hair and gave electric shocks on my chest and even spat on my face" adds
Murthy. A dozen recovery agents of ICICI Bank, riding on bikes, allegedly forced a
prominent lawyer, Someshwari Prasad, to stop his car. They held Prasad at gunpoint and
also slapped him to force him. A manager of the ICICI Bank branch, Rakesh Mehta,
along with four other employees were arrested
O In a landmark case, Allahabad High Court had ordered registration of an FIR against
ICICI Bank's branch manager, President, Chairman and Managing Director on a
complaint of 75-year-old widow Prakash Kaur. She had complained that ³goondas´ were
sent by the bank to harass her and forcibly took away her truck. When the Supreme Court
wanted to know about the procedure adopted by the Bank, ICICI Bank counsel said
notice would be sent to a defaulter asking him either to pay the instalments or hand over
the vehicle purchased on loan, failing which the agents would be asked to seize it. When
the Bench pointed out that recovery or seizure could be done only legally, ICICI Bank
counsel said, "If we have to go through the legal process it would be difficult to recover
the instalments as there are millions of defaulters".Taking strong exception to ICICI
Bank's use of 'goondas' against a defaulter, the president of Consumer Disputes Redressal
Forum said, "The fact leaves us aghast at the manner of functioning and goondaism in
which the bank is involved for a petty amount of 1,889... such attitude is deplorable and
sends chills down the spine....The bank had the option to recover dues through legal
means. They have no legal right to snatch the vehicle in such a manner which amounts to
robbery,". In this case recovery agents pointed a pistol at a defaulter when he tried to
resist. ICICI bank argued that they had taken peaceful possession of the vehicle "after due
intimation to the complainant as he was irregular in remitting the monthly instalments".
But the court found out that the records proved otherwise. Two senior ICICI Bank
officials were booked for abducting one Vikas Porwal from his house and keeping him
hostage in the Bank's premises. The credit card division of the ICICI Bank allegedly
threatened a senior citizen in Chandigarh with a fictitious arrest warrant on account of a
default that never was. A Consumer Commission has asked ICICI Bank MD K V Kamath
to appear before it in respect a complaint. A borrower on protesting against the forceful
dispossession of his car, as seen in the post-incident photographs, was roughed up and
sustained injuries. An 18-year-old boy was allegedly kidnapped and detained at the Pune
branch of ICICI BankThere have been several other minor legal cases accusing
harassment by ICICI Bank A consumer court imposed a joint penalty of 25 lakh on ICICI
Bank and American Express Bank for making unsolicited calls