ICICI Bank eyes smaller towns to double retail biz to Rs 17 bn in Odisha

Lender is focusing on affordable housing and expanding its presence across tier-II and tier-III markets like Rourkela, Sambalpur, Jajpur and Berhampur, billed as key drivers for home loans

Buoyed by robust growth in Odisha, the country’s largest private bank by assets, ICICI Bank, has set a target to double its retail loan disbursement in the state to Rs 17 billion in FY19.

The private lender had advanced about Rs 8.5 billion retail loans in the last financial year.

The bank will reach the target by expanding its presence in home loans and in the personal, vehicle and two-wheeler loan space. In the home loan segment, the main growth driver for the bank will be affordable housing.

In FY19, the bank envisages to grow its disbursement of consumer loans to over Rs nine billion  and double its home loan disbursement to Rs eight billion with a special focus on affordable housing.

“We are positively surprised by the growth in the state. In FY18, retail loans of home, auto and business grew faster Odisha in comparison to the bank’s overall retail loan growth in the country of over 20 per cent. With robust growth in the economy of the state, this fiscal too, we see potential to grow faster in Odisha than the national average. We will nearly double the retail loan disbursement to Rs 17 billion in the state. We are focusing on home, vehicle, personal and two-wheeler loans to grow in the state,” said Anup Bagchi, executive director, ICICI Bank.

The bank is expanding its presence across tier-II and tier-III markets like Rourkela, Sambalpur, Jajpur and Berhampur, billed as key drivers for home loans. 

For other consumer loans, ICICI Bank is planning to expand its distribution to more towns in the state and leverage its digital prowess to offer quick and easy disbursements.  

“We plan to double our home loan disbursement in Odisha to Rs eight billion. We foresee that a large part of this growth will come from the affordable housing segment. To drive this growth, we have a multi-pronged strategy –- expanding our presence in tier-II and III markets, launch of ‘Extra Home Loans’ for affordable housing and participation in housing projects with state nodal agencies,”  Bagchi added.

The bank has recorded a good uptick in Odisha's tier-II towns for personal loans both from the salaried class and self-employed individuals.

Operating with a retail network of 140 branches and about 280 ATMs, ICICI Bank has more than 100 branches in the semi urban and rural areas in the state. In addition, the bank has 650 customer service points who cater to the need of 3500 villages.

Bagchi said the NPAs of the bank in the state are very much under control.