ICICI Bank plans 400 new branches

KOLKATA: ICICI Bank, which is coming out with a public offer of Rs 8,750 crore in domestic markets, plans to add 400 new branches across the country in the near future.

"We have applied with the Reserve Bank of India for 400 new bank branches during the current fiscal," ICICI Bank Senior General Manager Rajiv Sabhrawal said during a brief visit here for a roadshow of the follow-on public issue that opens on June 19.
    
Asked how many branches would be opened in the current year, Sabhrawal said it would depend on the approval from the central bank.

A majority of the new branches were expected to come up in B and C category towns, he said.

"We want to be present at district headquarters and then reach deeper through outsourced business model to harness opportunities in the rural region," Sabhrawal said.

The bank currently has 950 branches and over 3,400 ATMs in the country.

He said the bank's exposure to the farm sector would go up to 15 per cent from the current 10 per cent in the next two to three years.

The bank opened 111 new branches last fiscal. "With the merger of Sangli Bank we also added their 178 bank branches," he said.

Sabhrawal said the bank, which is present in 18 nations, did not have immediate plans for expanding into new geographies