ICICI Bank aims to grow loan book 3-4% ahead of system growth

Says will continue to be selective while lending to the corporate and SME sector

ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender, aims to grow its loan book 3-4% ahead of credit growth this fiscal year.

In an investor presentation, the lender said that it will continue to be selective while lending to the corporate and SME sector.

“We expect to sustain domestic loan growth in the range of 18-20%, driven by about 25% growth in the retail segment. In the domestic corporate portfolio, we expect growth of 10-15%, driven primarily by increasing lending to higher rated clients. The bank would continue to calibrate corporate loan growth to the trends in the environment,” said N S Kannan, Executive Director, ICICI Bank in an analyst conference call. 

In FY15, retail advances for the lender grew 24.6% on a year-on-year basis at the end of March 31, 2015. In the same period, domestic corporate loan book grew at 9.6%. 

The management believes that a revival in economic growth will present several growth opportunities including in retail. Within specific segments, such as auto, it plans to focus on profitability whereas in the business banking segment the target will be to scale up growth.

ICICI Bank also expects a better loan growth as compared to last year from its overseas branches. 

“With respect to overseas branches, the bank would focus on selective lending opportunities and will continue to calibrate growth to conditions in the funding markets. We expect the loan portfolio of overseas branches to grow by 8-10%,” added Kannan.

Last financial year, in rupee terms, the net advances of overseas branches increased by 4.9% on a year-on-year basis. The net advances of overseas branches decreased marginally by about 1.6% on a sequential basis in US dollar terms.

In order to further its growth, the bank also plans to continue to focus on the technology front.