India’s second biggest bank, ICICI Bank Ltd is looking for foreign expansion by opening branches in Australia, South Africa and Mauritius. The largest private sector lender is also looking to open a full-fledged branch in China, where it already has a representative office, managing director and CEO, Chanda Kochhar said during the bank’s 19th annual general meeting (AGM) here.
“Under the bank’s foreign expansion plans, we will open branches in Australia, South Africa and Mauritius. We have sought Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s clearance and the same is awaited,” said Kochhar addressing the shareholders in Vadodara on Monday. “We already have a representative office in China, where we will open a full-fledged branch,” she said.
As on March 31, ICICI Bank had the largest number of foreign branches, 10, among private sector banks in India. The bank also has three subsidiaries and eight representative offices located in different countries, RBI data showed.
Commenting on the domestic branch network, Kochhar maintained bank will expand its branch presence in the non-banked areas of the country. “We will open 350 new branches in India. About 200 of these will be in non-banked areas. The pace of branch network expansion will be much faster over the next three years,” said managing director and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar at its 19th annual general meeting here.
She said they’d also applied to the Reserve Bank of India for permission to open branches in Australia, South Africa and Mauritius. And, she said, they wished to upgrade the representative office in China to a full branch. As on March 31, ICICI had 10 branches abroad (the largest among private sector banks in India), three subsidiaries and eight representative offices in different countries.
