- In Maharashtra, the Bank has already transformed 14 villages impacting lives of over 50,000 people
- Over 13,300 underprivileged youth have benefitted in the state through the vocational training programmes imparted by ICICI Academy for Skills
- ICICI Bank aims to grow retail book by 20% in FY18
Pune: ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets today said that it will transform additional 71 villages in Maharashtra into ‘Digital Villages’ marking the Bank’s efforts to partner the nation’s progress by empowering rural India.
The programme involves end-to-end digitizing transactions and other commercial activities, providing vocational training to villagers, extending loans and helping the villagers to access markets and earn a sustainable livelihood. The Bank has already transformed 14 villages in the state under this programme.
Mr. Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said, “We have always believed that the key to building a prosperous nation is through empowering its villages. We have transformed 14 villages in Maharashtra into ‘Digital Villages’ and we intend to expand the number of such villages to 85 by December 2017.”
In the state, the Bank has impacted the lives of 50,000 people across 14 villages, by digitizing the village level co-operative societies in many villages and installing 35 point-of-sale machines including micro ATMs. The villagers here can use digital channels for banking and payments transactions. They can also open bank accounts using Aadhar-based e-KYC (electronic Know Your Customer), make cashless payments at retail stores using Point-of-Sale (POS) machines and use an SMS based mobile solution. Villagers can also deposit and withdraw cash at their doorstep. The digitisation at the village dairy co-operative units enables the societies to pay the members digitally and directly into their bank accounts, added Mr. Bagchi.
Additionally, ICICI Bank in association with ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation), the CSR arm of the ICICI Group, is imparting free vocational training to the villagers. The Bank has skilled nearly 2400 individuals in these 14 villages, thereby providing an opportunity for sustainable employment. They were skilled across courses like Dress Designing, Dairy and Vermi composting, comprehensive agriculture, servicing and repair for agriculture equipment. Many villagers have also been provided loans and access to markets to help them earn a sustainable livelihood.
ICICI Academy for Skills: Apart from these 14 digital villages, ICICI Group has also been actively involved in imparting free-of-cost vocational training to the underprivileged youth through the ICICI Academy for Skills. Out of the total 23 centers set up across India – 4 centers – Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur and Narsobawadi are in Maharashtra which is the highest number for any state n India.
Since its inception in 2013, ICICI Academy for Skills has imparted vocational training to 13,300 underprivileged youth (45% are women) in the state. This is again the largest number of youth benefited by this program compared to any state in India. The centers offer training in courses like office administration, selling skills, pumps and motor repair, electrical and home appliances repair and refrigeration and air-conditioning repair among others.
ICICI Academy for Skills aims to train an additional 5100 students in Maharashtra by March 2018.
ICICI Bank Retail Business
- The Bank runs widest retail network of branches and ATMs among private banks in Maharashtra
- Retail advances in Pune growing faster than national growth rate
Mr. Bagchi said ICICI Bank’s retail loan book grew by over 18% last fiscal and it would maintain the growth rate at 18-20% in fiscal 2017-18.
ICICI Bank’s retail portfolio as on March 31, 2017 was Rs. 2,40,000 crore. This portfolio is expected to grow at 18-20% in FY 2017-18. The key businesses in the retail portfolio are home loans, automobile loans, loans for commercial vehicles, personal loans and credit cards.
Due to the Bank’s extensive focus and retail network in Maharashtra, the state contributed nearly 25% of the total retail loan disbursement in FY 16-17. The Bank’s retail lending portfolio in Maharashtra including Pune has also grown faster than the national growth rate. It is also expected to continue to grow faster in this financial year said Mr Bagchi.
The Bank also has the largest network among the private sector bank – with 725 branches and 2746 ATMs– in Maharashtra as on March 31, 2017. Of these branches, over 40% are located in semi-urban and rural areas. Additionally, the Bank has a network of over 260 business correspondents and close to 800 customer service points to cater to the customers in rural customers.
The Bank is expanding its presence across tier 2-3 markets like Jalgaon, Nanded, Aurangabad, Nashik and micro-markets like Hadapsar, Hinjewadi, among others as it is a key driver for home loan.