Sandeep Batra, ICICI Bank: IT resilience and customer security is of paramount importance to us

Mumbai: ICICI Bank, a leading private lender, reported a 17.4% year-on-year growth in the profit after tax to Rs 10,708 crore in Q4 FY24. Beating its all-time best, the bank has recorded a GNPA ratio of 2.16% and an NPA ratio of 0.42%. In Q4 FY24, the core operating profit increased by 10.5% year-on-year to Rs 15,320 crore. Additionally, the bank has reported a robust deposit growth of 19.6% year-on-year which is best in the last 3 years. 

Digital initiatives:

ICICI Bank's digital initiative is a crucial element of the company's strategy and the bank has seen a significant increase in the adoption and usage of its digital platforms by customers. The value of the bank’s merchant-acquiring transactions through UPI grew by 67.7% year-on-year and 8.7% sequentially in Q4 FY24. The bank had a market share of about 30% by value in electronic toll collections through FASTag in Q4 FY24, with a 14.5% year-on-year growth in collections to Rs 3,378 crore in Q4 FY24. The bank has issued 4.9 million+ Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit cards.

Sandeep Batra, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, on the earnings call highlighted, “IT resilience and customer security is of paramount importance to us and this is not constrained by any budget. In fact, our IT and cybersecurity spends as a percentage of operating expenditure grew from 5.6% in FY2019 to about 9.4% in FY2024.”

iLens, the retail lending platform is also being updated for a personal loans and education loans, now integrated in the platform along with mortgages. A new solution called Smart BG Assist was introduced to simplify bank guarantee processes by enabling digital execution of tasks like creating and validating text, e-stamping, digital signatures among others.

While talking about the technology in business Sandeep Batra said, “We continue to enhance the use of technology in our operations to provide solutions to customers. iLens, the retail lending platform is being updated on an ongoing basis for personal loans and education loans, now integrated in the platform along with mortgages.”

Rise in deposit:

ICICI Bank's deposit portfolio showed robust growth, with a total period-end deposit increased by 19.6% year-on-year to Rs 14,12,825 crore in Q4 FY24. The period-end term deposit increased by 27.7% year-on-year to Rs 8,16,953 crore on March 31, 2024. The average current account deposit increased by 13% year-on-year, while the average savings account deposit increased by 4.6% year-on-year.

The bank expanded its network by 623 branches during FY24, taking the total to 6,523 branches and 17,190 ATMs and cash recycling machines as of March 31, 2024.

Credit Growth:

In terms of loan growth, the bank's overall loan portfolio grew by 16.8% year-on-year and 3.2% sequentially on March 31, 2024. The retail loan portfolio grew by 19.4% year-on-year and 3.7% sequentially and comprises 54.9% of the total loan book at the end of March 2024. The business banking portfolio grew by 29.3% year-on-year and 5.7% sequentially, and the SME business comprising borrowers with a turnover of less than Rs 250 crore grew by 24.6% year-on-year and 3.8% sequentially. The rural portfolio grew by 17.2% year-on-year and 4.5% sequentially, while the domestic corporate portfolio grew by 10% year-on-year and remained flat sequentially. The bank’s credit card portfolio grew by 35.6% year-on-year 6.5% sequentially in the last quarter of FY24.

Asset Quality:

The asset quality of ICICI Bank has improved as indicated by the decline in the net NPA ratio from the previous year. ICICI Bank's net NPA ratio declined to 0.42% at the end of March 2024, from 0.48% in the last year. Likewise, the gross NPA ratio declined to 2.16% at March 31, 2024 from 2.81% at the end of the previous year. The bank has written off gross NPAs amounting to Rs 1,707 crore in Q4 FY24. The provisioning coverage ratio on NPAs was 80.3% at March 31, 2024.

Batra also said, “We focus on building a culture where every employee in the Bank serves customers with humility and upholds the value of brand ICICI. We aim to be a trusted financial service provider of choice for our customers and deliver sustainable returns to our shareholders.”

Disclaimer: The above is a featured article.

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