ICICI and other banks may experience growth of 20% says Kochhar

ICICI Bank has said the bank and the banking sector is anticipated to increase at 20% a year as economic growth speeds up.

ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar said, “The Indian banking sector can grow at least twice the GDP growth rate.  I’m actually quite confident that India can very soon get to the double digit growth rates, so move from may be a 9 per cent growth rate in the GDP in the immediate future and then get on to 10 per cent”.

In 2009-10, Indian economy grew by 7.4%. The government anticipates economy to increase at 8.5% in the present fiscal.

ICICI Bank plans to capture increasing demand for credit as Kochhar believes that firms are expected to invest USD 250 billion in production and infrastructure projects over the next 3 years.

Kochhar said, “Clearly there is a huge growth opportunity awaiting us”.

ICICI Bank, whose foreign operation comprises 25% of its total loans, will also plan to offer more credit to firms in Europe as banks there might have less capital to provide due to the global financial crisis, she said.

She said, the bank will form a portion of syndicated-loan deals, rather than purchasing assets or participating in joint ventures.