Thought leadership: ICICI Bank CEO and MD Sandeep Bakhshi reflects on the robust Q4 performance

ICICI Bank, the leading private sector bank in India, announced its Q4 results on 23rd April 2022.

As the year began with a sharp rise in Covid cases which resulted in moderation in the pace of economic activity. However, the impact of this wave was mild and economic activities gained momentum in February and March. Sandeep Bakshi said that this was visible in the Bank’s Ultra Frequency Index, comprising several high-frequency indicators tracked by their Economic Research Group, which rose from 112.0 in January to 114.9 in February and 124.4 in March.

Some of the major factors leading to improvement in this index were the increase in power demand, rail freight revenues, e-way bill generation and GST collections. Bakshi stated that the bank follows a strategic framework involving six different target areas, which have helped them deliver a powerfully built performance.

The first is that they aim to grow the core operating profit within the guardrails of compliance and risk through their 360-degree customer-centric approach and focus on opportunities across client and segment ecosystems. The second is to focus on enhancing their strong deposit franchise. The third is to grow their loan portfolio in a granular manner along with maintaining the risk-reward balance. The fourth is to magnify their existing digital platforms to provide end-to-end seamless digital journeys, personalized solutions and value-added features to customers and enable more data driven cross sell and up sell. The fifth is to protect their balance sheet from potential risks and keep their NPA’s under control. The sixth is to maintain a very strong capital base.

Sandeep Bakshi concluded by saying that, looking forward they will continue to be guided by the twin principles of “One Bank, One RoE”, emphasising the goal of maximizing their share of the target market across all products and services and “Fair to Customer, Fair to Bank”, emphasising the need to deliver fair value to customers while creating value for shareholders.