ICICI formally announces launch of Rs7,000-crore public issue

Mumbai: ICICI Bank, the largest Indian private sector bank, officially announced its follow-on public issue of Rs7,000 crore yesterday, to be raised from the domestic and overseas markets. (See: ICICI Bank public issue opens on December 1, 2005)

Announcing the launch of the issue at a press conference in Mumbai, K V Kamath, managing director and CEO, ICICI Bank, said, "We are part of the extremely positive India story which is going strong on the expanding services sector, a resurgent industrial sector, about 8 per cent GDP and the still to be tapped vast rural market."

The issue proceeds is to raise money in advance to be prepared for the future and for meeting existing corporate requirements of the bank, which will continue to focus on its current core business of corporate banking, Kamath added. He said that apart from retail credit and expanding international operations, ICICI will exploit and leverage the rural market in India.

"As far as we are concerned, it is not just consumer credit; that is just one product. Today it is a major part of our book, over 60 per cent of our loan book. But we were very strong in project finance. We have the ability to meet markets as the need arises and balance our portfolio based on risk. We will continue to be present in all areas."