Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) Bank: The Emergent Bank of the Emerging Economies

Abstract

In September 2008 the Reserve Bank of India issued a rare statement: ‘The ICICI Bank and its subsidiary banks abroad are well capitalized’.¹ This statement epitomizes the confidence of India’s central bank about India’s largest private bank. Two days later, ICICI Bank reiterated to all its stakeholders that it possessed limited foreign exposure in the foreign market and was in good health. Healthy profits of 41 billion rupees, capital adequacy and a robust corporate governance framework led ICICI to this position while other Indian banks were focusing on the financial crisis in the United States. India’s exposure to foreign market risks was limited, as was evident from only $5 million exposure to Lehman Brothers by India’s largest public sector bank, the State Bank of India, and its chairman was confident of recovering 60–70 per cent of that.²