Prefer buying a domestic bank over global: ICICI

Having missed the bus to a planned global acquisition in 2008, ICICI Bank today said it was open for a buyout in India, as domestic takeover in the current environment made better sense than an overseas buy.

“I am always open... But the question will always be in terms of what is available and at what value, and then you weigh the option,” ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar said on acquisition prospects this year and the elusive search for a property last year.

Asserting that the bank was the best capitalised entity in the world, with over 17 per cent capital adequacy ratio, she said, “So, clearly, what I would say, we are definitely growing in India, when one talks of aggression. Again, in a way to put that in context, we are definitely a growth organisation and the growth DNA continues.”