Thursday, April 21, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
ICCI BANK
Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, Hindi: आय सी आय सी आय बैंक ) is a major banking and financial services organization in India. It is the second largest bank in India [3] and the largest private sector bank in India by market capitalization. The bank also has a network of 2,529 branches (as on 31 March 2010) and about 6,102 ATMs in India and presence in 19 countries,[2] as well as some 24 million customers (at the end of July 2007). ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and specialization subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. (These data are dynamic.) ICICI Bank is also the largest issuer of credit cards in India.[4] ICICI Bank's shares are listed on the stock exchanges at BSE, NSE, Kolkata and Vadodara (formerly Baroda) ; its ADRs trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The Bank is expanding in overseas markets and has the largest international balance sheet among Indian banks. ICICI Bank now has wholly owned subsidiaries, branches and representatives offices in 19 countries, including an offshore unit in Mumbai. This includes wholly owned subsidiaries in Canada, Russia and the UK (the subsidiary through which the HiSAVE savings brand[5] is operated), offshore banking units in Bahrain and Singapore, an advisory branch in Dubai, branches in Belgium, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, and representative offices in Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and USA. Overseas, the Bank is targeting the NRI (Non-Resident Indian) population in particular.
ICICI reported a 1.15% rise in net profit to Indian Rupee ₹1,014.21 crore on a 1.29% increase in total income to Indian Rupee ₹9,712.31 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007. The bank's CASA ratio increased to 30% in 2008 from 25% in 2007.[6][7]
ICICI Bank is one of the Big Four banks of India, along with State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and HDFC Bank—its main competitors
History
In 1955, The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Limited (ICICI) was incorporated at the initiative of World Bank, the Government of India and representatives of Indian industry, with the objective of creating a development financial institution for providing medium-term and long-term project financing to Indian businesses. In 1994, ICICI established Banking Corporation as a banking subsidiary. Formerly known as Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, ICICI Banking Corporation was later renamed as 'ICICI Bank Limited'. ICICI founded a separate legal entity, ICICI Bank, to undertake normal banking operations - taking deposits, credit cards, car loans etc. In 2001, ICICI acquired Bank of Madura (est. 1943). Bank of Madura was a Chettiar bank, and had acquired Chettinad Mercantile Bank (est. 1933) and Illanji Bank (established 1904) in the 1960s. In 2002, The Boards of Directors of ICICI and ICICI Bank approved the reverse merger of ICICI, ICICI Personal Financial Services Limited and ICICI Capital Services Limited, into ICICI Bank. After receiving all necessary regulatory approvals, ICICI integrated the group's financing and banking operations, both wholesale and retail, into a single entity. At the same time, ICICI started its international expansion by opening representative offices in New York and London. In India, ICICI Bank bought the Shimla and Darjeeling branches that Standard Chartered Bank had inherited when it acquired Grindlays Bank.
In 2003, ICICI opened subsidiaries in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK), and in the UK it established an alliance with Lloyds TSB. It also opened an Offshore Banking Unit (OBU) in Singapore and representative offices in Dubai and Shanghai. In 2004, ICICI opened a representative office in Bangladesh to tap the extensive trade between that country, India and South Africa. In 2005, ICICI acquired Investitsionno-Kreditny Bank (IKB), a Russia bank with about US$4mn in assets, head office in Balabanovo in the Kaluga region, and with a branch in Moscow. ICICI renamed the bank ICICI Bank Eurasia. Also, ICICI established a branch in Dubai International Financial Centre and in Hong Kong. In 2006, ICICI Bank UK opened a branch in Antwerp, in Belgium. ICICI opened representative offices in Bangkok, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur. In 2007, ICICI amalgamated Sangli Bank, which was headquartered in Sangli, in Maharashtra State, and which had 158 branches in Maharashtra and another 31 in Karnataka State. Sangli Bank had been founded in 1916 and was particularly strong in rural areas. With respect to the international sphere, ICICI also received permission from the government of Qatar to open a branch in Doha. Also, ICICI Bank Eurasia opened a second branch, this time in St. Petersburg. In 2008, The US Federal Reserve permitted ICICI to convert its representative office in New York into a branch. ICICI also established a branch in Frankfurt. In 2009, ICICI made huge changes in its organisation like elimination of loss making department and restreching outsourced staff or renegotiate their charges in consequent to the recession. In addition to this, ICICI adopted a massive approach aims for cost control and cost cutting. In consequent of it, compesation to staff was not increased and no bonus declared for 2008-09.
On 23 May ICICI Bank announced that it would merge with Bank of Rajasthan through a share-swap in a non-cash deal that values the Bank of Rajasthan at about Indian Rupee ₹3,000 crore. ICICI announced that the merger expand ICICI Bank's branch network by 25%.[9][10][11]
On 18h October 2010, ICICI will inaugurate I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). This service will be available through the ICICI Bank's select partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council. [12]
Subsidiaries
* I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option.
* ICICI Lombard
* ICICI Prudential
The Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India was established on January 5, 1955. Its first executive chairman was Gaganvihari L Mehta who was India's Ambassador to the USA in the mid-1950s.
Acquisition
* 2005 - Investitsionno-Kreditny Bank (IKB), a Russian bank
* 2007 - Sangli Bank , Maharashtra State
* 23 May - Bank of Rajasthan
Recognition
The Brand Trust Report [13], launched in 2011, has ranked ICICI in the 15th place as the most trusted brand of India.
Controversy
ICICI Bank has been in focus in recent years because of alleged harassment of customers by its recovery agents. Listed below are some of the related news links:
* ICICI Bank was fined Indian Rupee ₹55 lakh for hiring goons (known coloquially as "goondas") to recover a loan. Recovery agents had, allegedly, forcibly dragged out a youth (who was not even the borrower) from the car, beaten him up with iron rods and left him bleeding as they drove away with the vehicle. "We hold ICICI Bank guilty of the grossest kind of deficiency in service and unfair trade practice for breach of terms of contract of hire-purchase/loan agreement by seizing the vehicle illegally","No civilised society governed by the rule of law can brook such kind of conduct" said Justice Kaleem, who was born in Laddhawala, Muzaffarnagar is the president of the consumer commission.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
* Four ICICI loan employees arrested on theft charges in Punjab [22]
* ICICI Bank told to pay Indian Rupee ₹1 lakh as compensation for using unlawful recovery methods.[23]
* RBI warns ICICI Bank for coercive methods to recover loans[24]
* ICICI Bank drives customer to suicide - Four men including an employee of ICICI Bank booked under sections 452, 306, 506 (II) and 34 of IPC for abetting suicide.[25] According to the suicide note they advised him, "If you cannot repay the bank loan, sell off your wife, your kids, yourself, sell everything at your home. Even then if you cannot not pay back the due amount, then it's better if you commit suicide."[26] India biggest private bank has compensated the life by money [27]
* ICICI Bank on huge car recovery scam in Goa - ICICI Bank invest in car-jackers to recover loans in Goa. A half an hour investigative report on CNN-IBN's 30 Minutes. The under cover report was executed by CNN-IBN's Special Investigations Team from Mumbai, led by Ruksh Chatterji [28]
* Family of Y. Yadaiah alleged that he was beaten to death by ICICI Bank’s recovery agents, for failing to pay the dues. Four persons were arrested in this case.[29]
* A father while talking to Times of India, alleged that "ICICI Bank recovery agents visited his house and threatened his family. And his son Nikhil consumed poison because of the tension".[30]
* Oppressed by ICICI Bank's loan recovery agents, Shakuntala Joshi (38), committed suicide by hanging. The suicide note stated that she was upset with the ill-treatment meted out by ICICI Bank's recovery agents and had thus decided to end her life.[31]
* In another case of a suicide it is alleged that ‘goondas’ sent by ICICI Bank abused Himanshu and his wife in front of the entire residential colony before taking away his vehicle. Feeling frustrated and insulted, he reportedly committed suicide.[32]
* C.L.N Murthy, a scientist with the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, was allegedly tortured by recovery agents of ICICI Bank after he defaulted on his loan.“They humiliated me no end. They ripped my shirt, shaved my moustache, cut my hair and gave electric shocks on my chest and even spat on my face" adds Murthy.[33]
* A dozen recovery agents of ICICI Bank, riding on bikes, allegedly forced a prominent lawyer, Someshwari Prasad, to stop his car. They held Prasad at gunpoint and also slapped him to force him. A manager of the ICICI Bank branch, Rakesh Mehta, along with four other employees were arrested.[34]
* In a landmark case, Allahabad High Court had ordered registration of an FIR against ICICI Bank's branch manager, President, Chairman and Managing Director on a complaint of 75-year-old widow Prakash Kaur. She had complained that “goondas” were sent by the bank to harass her and forcibly took away her truck.[35] When the Supreme Court wanted to know about the procedure adopted by the Bank, ICICI Bank counsel said notice would be sent to a defaulter asking him either to pay the instalments or hand over the vehicle purchased on loan, failing which the agents would be asked to seize it. When the Bench pointed out that recovery or seizure could be done only legally, ICICI Bank counsel said, "If we have to go through the legal process it would be difficult to recover the instalments as there are millions of defaulters".[36]
* Taking strong exception to ICICI Bank's use of 'goondas' against a defaulter, the president of Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum said, "The fact leaves us aghast at the manner of functioning and goondaism in which the bank is involved for a petty amount of Indian Rupee ₹1,889... such attitude is deplorable and sends chills down the spine....The bank had the option to recover dues through legal means. They have no legal right to snatch the vehicle in such a manner which amounts to robbery,". In this case recovery agents pointed a pistol at a defaulter when he tried to resist. ICICI bank argued that they had taken peaceful possession of the vehicle "after due intimation to the complainant as he was irregular in remitting the monthly instalments". But the court found out that the records proved otherwise.[37]
* Two senior ICICI Bank officials were booked for abducting one Vikas Porwal from his house and keeping him hostage in the Bank's premises.[38]
* The credit card division of the ICICI Bank allegedly threatened a senior citizen in Chandigarh with a fictitious arrest warrant on account of a default that never was.[39]
* A Consumer Commission has asked ICICI Bank MD K V Kamath to appear before it in respect a complaint. A borrower on protesting against the forceful dispossession of his car, as seen in the post-incident photographs, was roughed up and sustained injuries.[40]
* An 18-year-old boy was allegedly kidnapped and detained at the Pune branch of ICICI Bank.[41]
* There have been several other minor legal cases accusing harassment by ICICI Bank [42][43][44][45][46]
* A consumer court imposed a joint penalty of Indian Rupee ₹25 lakh on ICICI Bank and American Express Bank for making unsolicited calls
The Bank is expanding in overseas markets and has the largest international balance sheet among Indian banks. ICICI Bank now has wholly owned subsidiaries, branches and representatives offices in 19 countries, including an offshore unit in Mumbai. This includes wholly owned subsidiaries in Canada, Russia and the UK (the subsidiary through which the HiSAVE savings brand[5] is operated), offshore banking units in Bahrain and Singapore, an advisory branch in Dubai, branches in Belgium, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, and representative offices in Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and USA. Overseas, the Bank is targeting the NRI (Non-Resident Indian) population in particular.
ICICI reported a 1.15% rise in net profit to Indian Rupee ₹1,014.21 crore on a 1.29% increase in total income to Indian Rupee ₹9,712.31 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007. The bank's CASA ratio increased to 30% in 2008 from 25% in 2007.[6][7]
ICICI Bank is one of the Big Four banks of India, along with State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and HDFC Bank—its main competitors
History
In 1955, The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Limited (ICICI) was incorporated at the initiative of World Bank, the Government of India and representatives of Indian industry, with the objective of creating a development financial institution for providing medium-term and long-term project financing to Indian businesses. In 1994, ICICI established Banking Corporation as a banking subsidiary. Formerly known as Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, ICICI Banking Corporation was later renamed as 'ICICI Bank Limited'. ICICI founded a separate legal entity, ICICI Bank, to undertake normal banking operations - taking deposits, credit cards, car loans etc. In 2001, ICICI acquired Bank of Madura (est. 1943). Bank of Madura was a Chettiar bank, and had acquired Chettinad Mercantile Bank (est. 1933) and Illanji Bank (established 1904) in the 1960s. In 2002, The Boards of Directors of ICICI and ICICI Bank approved the reverse merger of ICICI, ICICI Personal Financial Services Limited and ICICI Capital Services Limited, into ICICI Bank. After receiving all necessary regulatory approvals, ICICI integrated the group's financing and banking operations, both wholesale and retail, into a single entity. At the same time, ICICI started its international expansion by opening representative offices in New York and London. In India, ICICI Bank bought the Shimla and Darjeeling branches that Standard Chartered Bank had inherited when it acquired Grindlays Bank.
In 2003, ICICI opened subsidiaries in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK), and in the UK it established an alliance with Lloyds TSB. It also opened an Offshore Banking Unit (OBU) in Singapore and representative offices in Dubai and Shanghai. In 2004, ICICI opened a representative office in Bangladesh to tap the extensive trade between that country, India and South Africa. In 2005, ICICI acquired Investitsionno-Kreditny Bank (IKB), a Russia bank with about US$4mn in assets, head office in Balabanovo in the Kaluga region, and with a branch in Moscow. ICICI renamed the bank ICICI Bank Eurasia. Also, ICICI established a branch in Dubai International Financial Centre and in Hong Kong. In 2006, ICICI Bank UK opened a branch in Antwerp, in Belgium. ICICI opened representative offices in Bangkok, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur. In 2007, ICICI amalgamated Sangli Bank, which was headquartered in Sangli, in Maharashtra State, and which had 158 branches in Maharashtra and another 31 in Karnataka State. Sangli Bank had been founded in 1916 and was particularly strong in rural areas. With respect to the international sphere, ICICI also received permission from the government of Qatar to open a branch in Doha. Also, ICICI Bank Eurasia opened a second branch, this time in St. Petersburg. In 2008, The US Federal Reserve permitted ICICI to convert its representative office in New York into a branch. ICICI also established a branch in Frankfurt. In 2009, ICICI made huge changes in its organisation like elimination of loss making department and restreching outsourced staff or renegotiate their charges in consequent to the recession. In addition to this, ICICI adopted a massive approach aims for cost control and cost cutting. In consequent of it, compesation to staff was not increased and no bonus declared for 2008-09.
On 23 May ICICI Bank announced that it would merge with Bank of Rajasthan through a share-swap in a non-cash deal that values the Bank of Rajasthan at about Indian Rupee ₹3,000 crore. ICICI announced that the merger expand ICICI Bank's branch network by 25%.[9][10][11]
On 18h October 2010, ICICI will inaugurate I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). This service will be available through the ICICI Bank's select partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council. [12]
Subsidiaries
* I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option.
* ICICI Lombard
* ICICI Prudential
The Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India was established on January 5, 1955. Its first executive chairman was Gaganvihari L Mehta who was India's Ambassador to the USA in the mid-1950s.
Acquisition
* 2005 - Investitsionno-Kreditny Bank (IKB), a Russian bank
* 2007 - Sangli Bank , Maharashtra State
* 23 May - Bank of Rajasthan
Recognition
The Brand Trust Report [13], launched in 2011, has ranked ICICI in the 15th place as the most trusted brand of India.
Controversy
ICICI Bank has been in focus in recent years because of alleged harassment of customers by its recovery agents. Listed below are some of the related news links:
* ICICI Bank was fined Indian Rupee ₹55 lakh for hiring goons (known coloquially as "goondas") to recover a loan. Recovery agents had, allegedly, forcibly dragged out a youth (who was not even the borrower) from the car, beaten him up with iron rods and left him bleeding as they drove away with the vehicle. "We hold ICICI Bank guilty of the grossest kind of deficiency in service and unfair trade practice for breach of terms of contract of hire-purchase/loan agreement by seizing the vehicle illegally","No civilised society governed by the rule of law can brook such kind of conduct" said Justice Kaleem, who was born in Laddhawala, Muzaffarnagar is the president of the consumer commission.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
* Four ICICI loan employees arrested on theft charges in Punjab [22]
* ICICI Bank told to pay Indian Rupee ₹1 lakh as compensation for using unlawful recovery methods.[23]
* RBI warns ICICI Bank for coercive methods to recover loans[24]
* ICICI Bank drives customer to suicide - Four men including an employee of ICICI Bank booked under sections 452, 306, 506 (II) and 34 of IPC for abetting suicide.[25] According to the suicide note they advised him, "If you cannot repay the bank loan, sell off your wife, your kids, yourself, sell everything at your home. Even then if you cannot not pay back the due amount, then it's better if you commit suicide."[26] India biggest private bank has compensated the life by money [27]
* ICICI Bank on huge car recovery scam in Goa - ICICI Bank invest in car-jackers to recover loans in Goa. A half an hour investigative report on CNN-IBN's 30 Minutes. The under cover report was executed by CNN-IBN's Special Investigations Team from Mumbai, led by Ruksh Chatterji [28]
* Family of Y. Yadaiah alleged that he was beaten to death by ICICI Bank’s recovery agents, for failing to pay the dues. Four persons were arrested in this case.[29]
* A father while talking to Times of India, alleged that "ICICI Bank recovery agents visited his house and threatened his family. And his son Nikhil consumed poison because of the tension".[30]
* Oppressed by ICICI Bank's loan recovery agents, Shakuntala Joshi (38), committed suicide by hanging. The suicide note stated that she was upset with the ill-treatment meted out by ICICI Bank's recovery agents and had thus decided to end her life.[31]
* In another case of a suicide it is alleged that ‘goondas’ sent by ICICI Bank abused Himanshu and his wife in front of the entire residential colony before taking away his vehicle. Feeling frustrated and insulted, he reportedly committed suicide.[32]
* C.L.N Murthy, a scientist with the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, was allegedly tortured by recovery agents of ICICI Bank after he defaulted on his loan.“They humiliated me no end. They ripped my shirt, shaved my moustache, cut my hair and gave electric shocks on my chest and even spat on my face" adds Murthy.[33]
* A dozen recovery agents of ICICI Bank, riding on bikes, allegedly forced a prominent lawyer, Someshwari Prasad, to stop his car. They held Prasad at gunpoint and also slapped him to force him. A manager of the ICICI Bank branch, Rakesh Mehta, along with four other employees were arrested.[34]
* In a landmark case, Allahabad High Court had ordered registration of an FIR against ICICI Bank's branch manager, President, Chairman and Managing Director on a complaint of 75-year-old widow Prakash Kaur. She had complained that “goondas” were sent by the bank to harass her and forcibly took away her truck.[35] When the Supreme Court wanted to know about the procedure adopted by the Bank, ICICI Bank counsel said notice would be sent to a defaulter asking him either to pay the instalments or hand over the vehicle purchased on loan, failing which the agents would be asked to seize it. When the Bench pointed out that recovery or seizure could be done only legally, ICICI Bank counsel said, "If we have to go through the legal process it would be difficult to recover the instalments as there are millions of defaulters".[36]
* Taking strong exception to ICICI Bank's use of 'goondas' against a defaulter, the president of Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum said, "The fact leaves us aghast at the manner of functioning and goondaism in which the bank is involved for a petty amount of Indian Rupee ₹1,889... such attitude is deplorable and sends chills down the spine....The bank had the option to recover dues through legal means. They have no legal right to snatch the vehicle in such a manner which amounts to robbery,". In this case recovery agents pointed a pistol at a defaulter when he tried to resist. ICICI bank argued that they had taken peaceful possession of the vehicle "after due intimation to the complainant as he was irregular in remitting the monthly instalments". But the court found out that the records proved otherwise.[37]
* Two senior ICICI Bank officials were booked for abducting one Vikas Porwal from his house and keeping him hostage in the Bank's premises.[38]
* The credit card division of the ICICI Bank allegedly threatened a senior citizen in Chandigarh with a fictitious arrest warrant on account of a default that never was.[39]
* A Consumer Commission has asked ICICI Bank MD K V Kamath to appear before it in respect a complaint. A borrower on protesting against the forceful dispossession of his car, as seen in the post-incident photographs, was roughed up and sustained injuries.[40]
* An 18-year-old boy was allegedly kidnapped and detained at the Pune branch of ICICI Bank.[41]
* There have been several other minor legal cases accusing harassment by ICICI Bank [42][43][44][45][46]
* A consumer court imposed a joint penalty of Indian Rupee ₹25 lakh on ICICI Bank and American Express Bank for making unsolicited calls
Thursday, September 2, 2010
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