An ongoing engagement with our stakeholders is important for the Bank to understand matters relevant to them and create sustainable value for all.
The Bank continuously endeavours to understand the concerns and opinions expressed by stakeholders and respond to them promptly.
The Bank holds regular interactions with customers, investors, employees, regulators and engages with communities and banking associations to remain informed.
We are committed to understanding the requirements and expectations of our customers, and continuously engage with them to shape Customer 360° experiences.
We engage through multiple channels like their interaction with our frontline employees, structured surveys for seeking feedback, customer meets organised at business centres and channels available for raising queries and grievances.
The Bank has put in place mechanisms to ensure customer needs are appropriately addressed and right-selling of products and services are ensured. Reiterating the principle of 'Fair to Customer, Fair to the Bank' in every communication to employees, the approach is to only offer products that meet requirements of a customer. In the past, the Bank has withdrawn products that could potentially lead to mis-selling and inconvenience the customer. In line with the above principle, the Bank has also moderated prepayment fee for certain products/segments.
The Bank has a dedicated customer service team focussed on improving process efficiency, reducing customer effort and leveraging technology to enhance customer experience and response time. This is accompanied with continuous upskilling and knowledge building of staff. The Bank strongly follows a policy of zero tolerance to unethical conduct by employees.
We believe that engaging with our shareholders and investors is important to understand market priorities and drive business outcomes that can lead to sustainable value-creation for all stakeholders.
There is continuous engagement with our investors and shareholders either through the annual general meeting, periodic conference calls, analyst day event, emails or one-to-one interactions. The Bank also has mechanisms to address queries and grievances of our shareholders and investors.
During fiscal 2023, the Bank significantly improved the return on capital to shareholders. The Investor Relations team provides details on the performance and strategic objectives of the Bank during quarterly result calls and endeavours to enhance disclosures in the investor presentations on an ongoing basis depending on market conditions and investors’ feedback. Continuous engagement is ensured including meetings with the senior management. The team also facilitates engagement with investors on topics like Environmental, Social and Governance to provide insights with regards to sustainability in the Bank’s own operations and management of climate-related financial risks.
The Bank is committed to contributing towards socio-economic development and, for the larger benefit of the society, is undertaking corporate social responsibility activities across the length and breadth of the country.
The Bank set up its philanthropic arm, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation), in 2008 for addressing critical gaps in socio-economic development, particularly in rural areas in India. Rural development initiatives are also being undertaken directly through the Bank's efforts in promoting financial inclusion and inclusive growth. ICICI Foundation, through its team of about 800 people at the end of fiscal 2023, extensively engages with local authorities and people to understand needs and development gaps.
During fiscal 2023, the Bank spent ₹ 4.63 billion towards CSR activities, and complied with the CSR rules under the Companies Act, 2013. Environment and healthcare were important focus areas for the Bank's CSR activities. Extensive work was undertaken in the areas of watershed management, rainwater harvesting, promoting environment conservation and supporting healthcare facilities and access to affordable treatments.
As a large financial institution, the Bank recognises the importance of engaging with its value chain partners on ESG. In fiscal 2023, the Bank developed a supplier code of conduct and also checklists on ESG factors for onboarding of new vendors. The Bank has started engaging with its vendors to sensitise and build awareness regarding ESG, the need for adopting green procurement standards and promote social factors like human rights, diversity, equity and inclusion.
Being a systemically important bank in India, ensuring resilience and stability is important for the Bank.
Our engagement with the regulators is ongoing, through periodic meetings and other forms of communications like emails, letters, etc. The Bank also engages constructively in policy forums organised by the regulator and also respond to policy-related discussion papers issued by the regulator
The Bank has a dedicated team for communicating with regulators and responding to their specific requirements in a time-bound manner. The Bank has well-defined processes and is leveraging technology to ensure monitoring and compliance to regulatory developments. The Bank has increased focus on building resilience and also participates in initiatives undertaken by the regulator.
Employees are the most important capital for the success of our strategy and growth of the organisation. We believe in providing an inclusive workplace, driven by meritocracy and equal opportunities to all.
Engagement with employees was through various platforms including townhall sessions with Directors, periodic communication meetings and business centre visits by senior leaders, an employee app, Universe on the Move and query raising portal.
In the last two years, the Bank has significantly reorganised its workforce with new roles aligned to market opportunities. Promoting job rotation and encouraging employees to move across roles is helping the Bank in providing career growth to employees. The Bank believes in giving responsibility to young capable professionals ahead of time and support them in their next career move early on in their career. Learning and skill development is an important value proposition provided to employees. The focus of skill development initiatives is on digital, functional and behavioural learning. The Bank has a fair compensation policy which aligns rewards with prudent risk taking. Care and well-being of employees is a key focus area and the Bank has established policies in this regard. The Bank has a culture where employees can raise issues freely and expect their grievances/concerns will be handled in a sensitive manner.
For more details on the Bank's HR practices, please refer to Human Capital and the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report.
Brood lac distribution to the beneficiaries of 'Lac Value Chain' at Burhabahera village in Ranchi district, Jharkhand.
During fiscal 2023, the Bank spent ₹ 4.63 billion towards CSR activities. Major focus areas for CSR were healthcare, environment, societal development and supporting sustainable livelihoods. The Bank’s philanthropic arm, the ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation), has been the primary implementing partner and for undertaking desired socio-economic interventions. Over the years, ICICI Foundation has developed capabilities to understand requirements at the grassroot level and designing activities or projects to create maximum impact. These projects range from addressing issues of resource shortages, value chain development for agricultural products to imparting skilled training in smart agricultural practices and other areas.
Providing ambulances, healthcare equipment and supporting treatment to underprivileged individuals
Tree plantation, sustainable forests, watershed management, rainwater harvesting and promoting renewable energy capacity
Promoting education, sports, entrepreneurship, support to armed forces, disaster relief and projects undertaken in aspirational districts
Skill development in urban and rural areas, value chain development, climate smart agriculture, Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes
Through these activities, ICICI Foundation has impacted the lives of about 10.9 million people across the length and breadth of the country. The efforts have been taken in 250 districts spread across the 36 states and union territories of India. Projects in areas like watershed management, value chain enhancement, afforestation, sanitation, skilling, responsible waste management and others have been taken up in 38 districts out of the 112 districts identified under the Government's Aspirational Districts Programme.
Some major efforts in the areas of health and environment during fiscal 2023 were as follows:
Healthcare came into sharper focus following the Covid-19 pandemic, when the need to significantly strengthen the health infrastructure in the country was recognised. Through the ICICI Foundation, the Bank continued to take several measures like providing ambulances, blood donation and blood transport vehicles, dialysis machines and other health equipment to government and charitable institutions. Support was provided to underprivileged individuals for cancer care, bone marrow transplant, eye checkups and organ transplants. During fiscal 2023, over 200 hospitals and over 800,000 individuals benefitted from our healthcare initiatives
The Bank has committed to support the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) for expanding cancer treatment facility in the country. The commitment of ₹ 12 billion over the next four years is towards three centres being established in Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, and is expected to double the capacity for treatment by TMC.
Dialysis machine donated at Sidhagiri Hospital in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
Blood donation camp organised at ICICI Bank's zonal office in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Environmental and ecological protection has become a critical developmental need for India, as several regions face challenges of water shortage, decline in soil quality and productivity of crops, and the need to increase forest cover and create carbon sinks. The team at ICICI Foundation engages with the local authorities and administration to understand the challenges and evaluate corrective measures that could be undertaken. Several projects relating to water conservation and rejuvenating water bodies have been undertaken. In fiscal 2023, the water body rejuvenation implemented projects had the potential for harvesting 8.4 billion litres per annum of water, and rainwater harvesting projects undertaken at 3,500 rural government schools had the potential to harvest 740 million litres of water. Overall, till date ICICI Foundation’s efforts has created 17.1 billion litres of water harvesting potential in the country, much of which are in water scarce areas.
Distribution of smokeless cookstove, as part of a green initiative, at Kunariya village in Kutch district, Gujarat.
Lantena, a non-edible weed, being removed at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka to help promote the growth of native plants and provide wildlife with access to food.
More than 2.6 million trees have been planted till date and interventions in 42 forest reserves have been made by way of creating water bodies, habitat restoration, weed removal and addressing man-wildlife conflicts and protect biodiversity.
For more details on ICICI Foundation’s activities, refer to the Bank’s ESG Report for fiscal 2023.
The Bank’s CSR expenses in the four major areas during fiscal 2023 were:
Sustainable environment and ecology
Affordable and accessible healthcare
Income growth of underprivileged
Inclusive approach for societal development
There are specific segments of the rural economy that require a more supportive and sensitive response to their financial requirements and the Bank has taken initiatives to address the needs of such segments. The Self-Help Groups (SHGs) programme is an initiative that has contributed to entrepreneurship among women in the rural areas. A comprehensive suite of banking products, including zero-balance savings account and term loans, for meeting the business requirements of the women of these SHGs is provided. Services are offered at their doorstep, thus saving their time, money and effort to visit the closest business centre.
ICICI Bank is also organising financial literacy camps and has set up dedicated service desks at select business centres to guide SHGs on banking procedures. There has been a gradual rise in entrepreneurial ventures by women in the areas where the Bank has been providing such services to SHGs. In addition to direct efforts in reaching out to SHGs, the Bank has tied up with about 546 non-government organisations called Self-Help Promoting Institutions (SHPIs).
The Bank has provided loans to women beneficiaries through over 785,000 SHG loans until March 31, 2023. Of these, 337,000 SHGs were ‘first time borrowers’, who had not taken a loan from any formal financial institution. In addition to direct customers, the Bank reaches out to about 2.5 million customers through microfinance institutions. The Bank also provides lending to Joint Liability Groups (JLGs), which are semi-formal groups from the weaker sections of society, through microfinance companies. The lending activities are undertaken within the overall framework prescribed by the RBI. The Bank also offers credit-related services to microfinance companies for onward lending to the rural population.
At March 31, 2023, the Bank had over 21.1 million Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDA), of which around 4.4 million accounts were opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The Bank encourages and enables these account holders to transact digitally.
Technology has played a key enabler in fostering financial inclusion. The delivery of financial services in remote unbanked and under-banked areas has been made possible due to digitisation. In fiscal 2023, the Government of India announced the launch of Digital Banking Units (DBU) with the objective of encouraging customers to undertake and experience the benefits of digital transactions. The DBUs are primarily fixed-point business units for delivering digital banking products and services, with most services made available in self-service mode. The Bank set up four such DBUs which were launched in October 2022.
Key performance parameters of the DBUs during October 2022-March 2023 were as follows:
| List of Activities | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| No. of accounts opened | 326 | |
| No. of credit cards | 181 | |
| No. of loans | 52 | |
| Count of financial transactions | 33,444 | |
| Count of non-financial transactions | 2,068 | |
| No. of frauds | Nil | |
| No. of grievances received | 6 | |
| No. of digital awareness/literacy camps arranged | 51 |
Human Capital
