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 [3]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 in18
countries,[2] 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 corporateand 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.[4] 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 brand[5] is 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'sCASA
ratio increased to 30% in 2008 from 25% in 2007.[6][7]

ICICI Bank is one of the Ê
Ê

of India, along with State Bank of India, Punjab National
Bank and Canara Bank ² its main competitors.[8]

History

ICICI Bank HQ at BKC Mumbai

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 acquiredBank of
Madura (est. 1943). Bank of Madura was a Chettiar bank, and had acquiredChettinad 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 bankingoperations,
both wholesale and retail, into a single entity. At the same time, ICICI started its international
expansion by opening representative offices inNew 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 chargesin 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]

[edit]Controversy

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:

 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.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
 Four ICICI loan employees arrested on theft charges in Punjab [21]
 ICICI Bank told to pay 1 lakh as compensation for using unlawful recovery methods.[22]
 RBI warns ICICI Bank for coercive methods to recover loans[23]
 ICICI 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.[24] 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."[25] India biggest private bank has
compensated the life by money [26]
 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 [27]
 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 case.[28]
 A 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".[29]
 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 life.[30]
 In 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.[31]
 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.[32]
 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.[33]
 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.[34] 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".[35]
 Taking strong exception to ICICI Bank's use of 'goondas' againsta 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.[36]
 Two senior ICICI Bank officials were booked for abducting one Vikas Porwal from his house
and keeping him hostage in the Bank's premises.[37]
 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.[38]
 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.[39]
 An 18-year-old boy was allegedly kidnapped and detained at the Pune branch of ICICI
Bank.[40]
 There have been several other minor legal cases accusing harassment by ICICI
Bank [41][42][43][44][45]
 A consumer court imposed a joint penalty of 25 lakh on ICICI Bank and American Express
Bank for making unsolicited calls.[46]