ICICI bank plans to grow retail loan portfolio in FY 18-19

Chennai: Private sector ICICI Bank has chalked out aggressive plans to grow its retail loan portfolio in Tamil Nadu by over 40 per cent to Rs 13,000 crore during current financial year, a top official said on Wednesday.

The bank also set a target on consumer loans to grow by 50 per cent in financial year 2018-19 to Rs 5,000 crore, ICICI Bank, Executive Director, Anup Bagchi told reporters here.

"There is a big opportunity for us to grow the loan book by 40 per cent (in Tamil Nadu). We are targeting to disburse Rs 13,000 crore in FY19," he said.

The company's home loan disbursement was likely to grow by nearly 40 per cent to Rs 3,700 crore while agri-related loans by 30 per cent to Rs 4,300 crore during the current financial year, he added.

To a query, he said, the bank would increase the processing centres to 20 from the existing 15 in the state.

Asked if banks would cut down on number of ATM machines, he said there was no such proposal to do so.

The Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi) recently warned that changes in regulatory landscape were making it unviable to operate ATMs and may lead to the closure of half of the 2.38 lakh units present in the country by March 2019.

Bagchi said the bank would also focus on affordable housing segment and expanding its presence in Tier II and III cities like Erode, Hosur, Karur, Thanjavur as it is a key driver for home loan portfolio.

"We plan to increase our home loan portfolio to Rs 3,700 crore in FY19. To drive this growth, we have adopted multi-pronged strategy - expanding presence tier II and III markets, focusing on affordable housing and credit processing centres..," he said.

The bank has a wide retail network of branches across Tamil Nadu. "Over 60 per cent of our branches are located in the semi-urban and rural areas," he said.