Enabling Societal Welfare

ICICI Bank through its philanthropic arm, ICICI Foundation, is actively working for the welfare of the underprivileged communities in the country. Several projects have been launched to support the development of these communities. The initiatives cover diverse areas, including the development of infrastructure in remote areas, promotion of financial literacy and improvement of access to education among marginalised communities.

Building Bridges in the Himalayan Region

ICICI Foundation has been working with Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) to build bridges to facilitate the movement of people in the remote hilly regions of North India. The bridges boost connectivity by providing shorter and safer routes to essential services like healthcare facilities, schools, and markets. They also promote better access to livelihood and economic opportunities, contributing to the overall socio-economic development of the region.

Since fiscal 2022, ICICI Foundation has constructed 70 bridges in Uttarakhand. In fiscal 2024, it constructed eight footbridges in Himachal Pradesh, taking the total number of bridges in the state to 21. It also built eight bridges in Jammu and Kashmir. With this, the total number of bridges constructed is 99 in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Rehabilitation through Skilling

ICICI Foundation is working for the empowerment of individuals staying at prisons, juvenile homes, and shelters across India. It launched several targeted programmes for the benefit of these communities in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

ICICI Foundation provides skill training to prisoners and youngsters in juvenile homes in the areas of agriculture, dairy and making decorative lights. This enables the inmates to generate income while they are inside the jails/homes and get suitable jobs after their release. Under this programme, ICICI Foundation also trains orphans with livelihood skills and supports them in finding jobs outside the orphanage once they turn 18 years of age.

ICICI Foundation organises courses for women at shelter homes to enable their integration with the society. These courses help destitute women to become employable. In fiscal 2024, the Foundation supported over 2,120 socially-deprived individuals in eight states namely Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Contributing to ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ Programme

The Government of India’s ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme launched in January 2018 aims to improve human development indicators and ensure inclusive growth in the 112 most under-developed districts across the country. The five broad socio-economic themes in focus include health and nutrition; education, agriculture and water resources; financial inclusion and skill development; and basic infrastructure.

In fiscal 2024, the Bank took up various projects across 62 Aspirational Districts with total spend of ₹ 560 million out of the annual CSR budget. These projects spanned across areas like healthcare and hygiene, strengthening water availability through watershed and rainwater harvesting, agriculture value chain development including skilling initiatives, animal husbandry, promoting use of solar power, plantation, and education.

Empowering Local Artisans in Gujarat

In fiscal 2024, ICICI Foundation partnered with Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), Ahmedabad to revive the dying craft of Mata Ni Pachedi and empower the local artisans in Gujarat. As part of this, a series of initiatives were conducted in three districts of Gujarat namely Rajkot, Anand and Ahmedabad, to promote entrepreneurial skills among the artisans. Further, credit and market linkages were also developed for the entrepreneur artisans. The artisans have also been connected with startups that support traditional craftsmanship and provide sustainable income opportunities.

The programme has enabled 34 artisans to register for Mata ni Pachhedi, a Geographical Indication (GI) tag craft of the Government of Gujarat. Once registered, the artisans can avail GI benefits, including the use of logo on their products, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) scheme assistance. This initiative has benefitted over 80 artisans.