ICICI Bk agri loans to touch Rs 7,000cr

ICICI Bank is likely to disburse Rs 7,000 crore as agricultural lending in 2004-05 as against Rs 4,000 crore in the last fiscal. This was announced by MD and CEO K V Kamath today.

Agricultural financing should not be driven by regulatory obligations as agri-lending was a profitable proposition, he added.

"The increased intermediation cost and risks involved are pushing up the cost of agri-lending for banks. We need to reduce the number of intermediaries and scale up agriculture insurance products to lower the cost elements of agri credit," Kamath said.