Sandeep Batra, ICICI Bank: Our aim is to make balance sheet robust at all times

Sandeep Batra, Executive Director ICICI Bank addressing the media said, “Looking ahead, we see many opportunities to grow the core operating profit in a risk-calibrated manner. We will calibrate our growth in the near term based on the operating environment and the future trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Sandeep Batra, Executive Director ICICI Bank

ICICI Bank, India’s second largest private lender, reported 78 per cent year-on-year rise in standalone net profit at Rs 4,616 crore for April - June 2021 as compared to Rs. 2,599 crore for the same period last year.

Sandeep Batra, Executive Director ICICI Bank addressing the media said, “Looking ahead, we see many opportunities to grow the core operating profit in a risk-calibrated manner. We will calibrate our growth in the near term based on the operating environment and the future trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Strong deposits franchise:

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Total deposits of the bank grew by 15.5% year-on-year to Rs. 9.3 trillion at June 30, 2021. During the quarter, average current account deposits increased by 32.4% year-on-year and average savings account deposits by 21.7% year-on-year. Term deposits grew by 8.7% year-on-year.

“Our cost of deposits continues to be among the lowest in the system. The Bank’s digital platforms and solutions, presence in various ecosystems and process decongestion initiatives have played an important role in the growth of our franchise”, said Sandeep Batra.

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Growing loan portfolio granularly:

The domestic loan portfolio grew by 20% year-on-year. The overseas loan portfolio declined by 15% year-on-year and increased by 7% sequentially. Total advances increased by 17% year-on-year and was flat sequentially.

“The Bank has taken a number of initiatives to offer a convenient and frictionless experience to customers by digitising the credit underwriting process, with instant loan approvals. The proportion of end-to-end digital sanctions and disbursements across various products has been increasing steadily”, added Sandeep Batra.

The retail loan portfolio grew by 20% year-on-year, performing domestic corporate portfolio, excluding the builder portfolio, by 15%, business banking portfolio by 53% and SME portfolio by 43% year-on-year. Of the total loan portfolio, retail was about 62%, domestic corporate was about 24%, business banking was about 5%, SME was about 4% and overseas was about 5%. Including non-fund outstanding, retail was 50.4% of the total portfolio at June 30, 2021.

Digital at the core approach

Digital channels like internet, mobile banking, PoS and others accounted for over 90% of the savings account transactions in Q1-2022. The Bank is a market leader in electronic toll collections through FASTag. Due to the instant loan approval process, about 34% of our total mortgage sanctions by volume were end-to-end digital in Q1-2022 compared to 19% FY2021. About 46% of personal loan disbursements by volume were end-to-end digital in Q1-2022 compared to 42% in FY2021. Of the total asset and liability accounts opened as well as third party products sold during June, about 40% was end-to-end digital. About 95,000 customers were on-boarded using video KYC in June 2021.

“We continue to invest in technology to enhance our offerings to customers as well as the scalability, flexibility and resilience of our technology architecture. We actively monitor and improve our technology infrastructure to minimise disruptions in services to our customers” said Sandeep Batra.

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Asset quality

The measures imposed by authorities in various parts of the country to contain the spread of the second wave of the pandemic had a significant impact on collections and recoveries in April and May. “We sought to adopt a sensitive approach to the difficulties faced by our customers and prioritised their health and safety as well as that of our employees. Unlike last year, regulatory dispensations such as moratorium were not available to borrowers this time. This has led to an increase in overdues and gross NPA additions in Q1-2022 for the banking system, including us” highlighted Sandeep Batra. The net non-performing assets were Rs. 9,306 crore at June 30, 2021 compared to Rs. 9,180 crore at March 31, 2021. In spite of the challenges posed by the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, the net NPA ratio remained broadly stable at 1.16% at June 30, 2021 compared to 1.14% at March 31, 2021.

Highlighting about the way forward, Sandeep Batra said, “Going forward, we will continue to focus on creating holistic value propositions for our customers and capturing opportunities across customer ecosystems, leveraging internal synergies, building partnerships and simplifying processes. We have a wide physical distribution network and our best-in-class digital platforms provide seamless onboarding and transacting experience for our customers.”

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