• Rosneft led consortium closes USD 12.9 billion acquisition of Essar Oil
• It is also the largest ever foreign acquisition in India
• The deal halves ICICI Bank’s exposure to the Essar Group

Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank said, “We welcome the acquisition of Essar Oil by the Rosneft-led consortium. ICICI Bank has played a key role through the entire process of completion of the transaction since it was announced in October last year.

I am delighted to note that the entire ecosystem including the government, regulators, banks and various authorities worked together to complete the deal which is also the largest ever foreign acquisition of an Indian company. The deal also underscores the keenness of foreign investors to enter India, the fastest growing large economy in the world. This transaction reduces ICICI Bank’s exposure to the Essar Group by about 50%.”

About ICICI Bank Ltd: ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE:IBN) is India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets. The Bank’s consolidated total assets stood at US$ 153.0 billion at June 30, 2017. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s largest private sector insurance, asset management and securities brokerage company, and among the country’s leading fixed income players. It is present across 17 countries, including India.

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The RBI’s action today to lower the policy rate is a welcome step which had been widely anticipated given the significant decline in inflation observed recently. The prudent approach of the central bank in reacting to incoming data in a calibrated manner will reinforce the confidence amongst global investors.

A number of regulatory and developmental measures like tri-party repo for corporate bonds and enhanced limits for foreign investors using the futures market have also been announced.  The formation of a high level committee to address the information asymmetry in the credit markets will help in enhancing transparency and information availability.

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• GST can be paid digitally through ICICI Bank internet banking, credit & debit cards and RTGS/NEFT facilities
• Any business entity (including non-customers) can pay GST at the Bank’s branches also
• Plans to introduce an online payment solution for filing monthly GST return

Mumbai: ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets, today announced that it has been authorised by the Ministry of Finance to collect Goods and Service Tax (GST). This service will help business entities including proprietorship firms, partnership firms as well as private and public limited companies to pay GST directly to the government. The tax payer will be required to generate the challan on the GSTN portal and choose ICICI Bank to make the payment through various digital modes such as its Corporate and Retail Internet Banking platforms, credit & debit cards and RTGS/NEFT facilities.

Additionally, any business entity, including those who are not customers of ICICI Bank, will be able to pay GST upto Rs.10,000 per challan at the Bank’s branches across the country.

Speaking about the announcement, Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank said, “The Goods & Services Tax (GST) is a transformational structural reform which will have multiple benefits – the creation of a national market; enhanced ease of doing business; greater productivity & efficiency; and improved tax compliance. All stakeholders are working together for a seamless transition to this new paradigm. We are delighted to have been authorised to extend our technology based services and branches for collection of GST. This initiative is in line with ICICI Bank’s philosophy of ‘Ready For You.Ready For Tomorrow’, wherein we are committed to continuously innovate to serve the needs of our customers. I believe that this new digital facility coupled with our extensive branch network will offer more convenience to tax payers in fulfilling the national mission of moving to the GST regime.”

Additionally, the Bank has tied up with an authorised GST service provider to introduce a facility on its Corporate Internet Banking platform that will enable business entities to file their monthly GST return, online. The new service will be available to customers shortly.

In a bid to create awareness about GST among business entities, ICICI Bank has been organising workshops and webinars across several cities over the last few months. It has also been conducting training sessions for its branch employees to enable them handle queries related to GST.

For further details on GST, please refer the FAQs on www.icicibank.com

About ICICI Bank Ltd: ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE:IBN) is India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets. The Bank’s consolidated total assets stood at US$ 152.0 billion at March 31, 2017. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s leading private sector insurance, asset management, securities brokerage and primary dealership companies, and among the country’s largest private equity firms. It is present across 17 countries, including India.

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“The RBI’s acknowledgement of downward shift in the inflation trajectory is welcome. It is also heartening that the RBI has again reiterated its focus on resolution of stressed assets which will help to strengthen the banking system and ensure that investments made are optimally utilised. The SLR cut and reduction in risk weights for housing loans are positive moves that will support bank liquidity and encourage growth in housing loans.”

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• Nearly 10% of the Bank’s energy consumption today relies on the renewable solar energy

On the occasion of World Environment Day, Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank said, “We at ICICI Bank have always given utmost importance to environmental preservation in all our initiatives. Over the last few years, the Bank has focused largely on reducing its carbon footprint and bringing in more efficient technologies and processes. In line with this thought, we have taken several measures to ensure that the Bank actively contributes towards environmental sustainability. I’m happy to share that our efforts have borne results.

The Bank has saved 34.2 million units in terms of energy consumption over the last 3 years. This is equivalent to the amount of energy that can power 42,000 rural households for an entire year. ICICI Bank has utilized 20 million units of solar energy which means that nearly 10% of the Bank’s energy consumption today relies on the renewable solar energy. The overall energy savings & utilization of renewable energy has enabled the Bank to reduce carbon emission by nearly 40,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to planting over 1,90,000 trees to offset the volume of carbon emissions.

All of this has been possible due to our constant efforts at leveraging technology in all our offerings that has enabled customers to adopt more of digital modes of banking. The encouraging response from customers has helped us build on our strengths to create a more self-sufficient ecosystem. Thus, we will continue to utilize renewable energy sources to cater to our energy requirements in the coming years as well.”

Key Highlights:

1. ICICI Bank has reduced its overall energy consumption in large offices & branches from 198 million units in FY2014 to 164 million units in FY2017, saving 34.2 million units in last 3 years.  This is equivalent to the amount of energy that can power 42,000 rural households for an entire year.
2. In terms of utilisation of renewable energy, ICICI Bank has utilized 20 million units of solar energy over the last 3 years. Nearly 10% of the Bank’s energy consumption today relies on the renewable solar energy.
3. The overall energy savings & utilization of renewable energy has enabled the Bank to reduce carbon emission by nearly 40,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to planting 1,94,000 trees to offset the volume of CO₂ emissions.
4. The Bank has reduced its overall paper consumption from 2441 tonnes in FY2014 to 1852 tonnes in FY2017 resulting in a 25% decrease in the last 3 years. This is equivalent to saving around 10,000 trees.
5. This has been possible due to the Bank’s efforts to popularise digital services including internet banking, mobile banking, Tab Banking, subscription to e-statements and Green PINS at ATMs.
6. Additionally, the Bank has commissioned over 200 solar powered ATM sites

Key initiatives which have led to the reduction in the overall energy consumption:

1. Efficient design template for new branches/offices. It ensures that the built in efficiency is equivalent to 3 STAR rated performance from the time of commissioning of the branch itself.
2. Launched an Industry First initiative of Centralized Monitoring System (CMS) which enables 24/7 remote monitoring and control of infrastructure at all branches and offices. CMS helps in managing infrastructure & drives efficiency by giving real time alerts for quick response. The eletse India 2015 award winning system is covers more than 3000 branches of the bank.
3. Enhanced renewable energy portfolio through:

• Installation of roof top solar panels to on the Bank’s office buildings
• Sourcing of 11MW solar power through open access mechanism at large office buildings.
• Installed 1kWp capacity solar panels at 525 branches in unbanked villages. This has helped improve network uptime in these branches as well as preserving the nature at these locations by avoiding polluting DG sets.
• This roof top solar generation meets over 30% energy requirements of these branches, while enhancing the reliability & availability of power supply.

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• Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) can now transfer money to India in just 3 clicks
• First Indian bank to integrate international money transfer facility with its internet banking platform
• NRIs can pay for services directly to over 100 entities in India

Mumbai: ICICI Bank Ltd, India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets, announced the launch of a new website and mobile application for Money2India (M2I), the bank’s flagship online money transfer service for NRIs. The new website as well as the mobile app comprises a host of features which enhance customer experience.

The website and the mobile app have an intuitive design that guides users to complete money transfer quickly. NRIs can now enjoy the convenience of a simplified transaction flow to transfer money to India in 3 simple clicks for their frequent transactions*. It provides an option of biometric authentication for logging into the mobile app as well as view the status of the transaction.

They can also make quick payments for services in India to over 100 entities from the M2I website. They can do so for services including telephone bills, insurance premiums, and prepaid mobile recharge among others. The new responsive design also offers a coherent experience across multiple devices like desktops, mobiles and tablets. Frequent users of Money2India will be enabled for instant money transfer credit to their recipients in India.

As an industry first, the bank has integrated its M2I website with its internet banking platform. With this, NRIs can now access their bank accounts, transaction details as well as undertake remittances from a single internet banking platform. This gives improved convenience to NRI customers as they are not required to separately login and authenticate themselves to access the M2I website.

Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd said, “ICICI Bank has pioneered and popularised many innovative solutions in the banking industry in India. It has always been our endeavour to provide world-class services to our customers. The new Money2India platform is yet another testimony to that effort. We see large number of our customers today transacting through our digital channels. The Money2India website and mobile app have been significantly enhanced to provide ease of sending money to India. It allows registered NRI customers to transfer money to India in just 3 clicks if it is frequently transferred. They also have an option to pay over 100 entities in India from the M2I website. We believe that these developments will offer a seamless user experience for NRIs looking to transfer money to India.”

NRIs, who are customers of any bank globally, can use the M2I website and mobile app to transfer money to any bank in India. New users can initiate a money transfer instantly with the help of a simple one-time registration. The simple transaction flow makes it easy even for a first time user to transact.

Some of the key highlights of the website and application are:

• Transfers in 3 easy clicks: The interface displays the frequent transactions upfront to customer to enable a transfer in just 3 clicks
• Biometric Login: The mobile app, which is available on Android and iOS, can also be accessed through biometric authentication in addition to the login ID & password.
• Direct payments to over 100 entities in India: A first-of-its-kind service by any bank in India. Apart from money transfers, the Money2India website now offers the option to pay bills and other expenses directly to over 100 entities. This includes payments like utility, telephone, insurance, and prepaid mobile recharge among others
• Receipt summary and status updates: On completion of the transfer, a summary is displayed with the details of the transaction including currency exchange rate, promotion discounts if any and the likely receipt date of the transfer to the beneficiary. It also has an interesting ‘track your transfer’ feature which enables customers to check the status of their transfer in real time.

ICICI Bank Ltd is a pioneer and the largest player/bank in the remittances market in the country. Its ‘Money2India’ platform has been facilitating remittances into the country since the last 15 years, catering to over 1.5 million NRIs worldwide. In 2015, it also launched ‘Money2World’ India’s first fully online service to transfer money from any bank in India to any bank overseas. The Bank also has a wide array of arrangement with a host of correspondent banks across the globe to enable quick and easy trans-border money transfers.

About ICICI Bank: ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE:IBN) is India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets. The Bank’s consolidated total assets stood at US$ 152.0 billion at March 31, 2017. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s leading private sector insurance, asset management, securities brokerage and primary dealership companies, and among the country’s largest private equity firms. It is present across 17 countries, including India.

ICICI Bank Limited (“ICICI Bank”) is incorporated in India and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) and maintains its corporate office in Mumbai, India. The products and services provided by ICICI Bank are subject to product/service specific terms & conditions. Please familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions applicable, available at www.icicibank.com and www.money2india.com. The products and services are also subject to RBI rules/regulations, prevailing foreign exchange regulations & other applicable Laws. ICICI Bank reserves the right to modify/change all or any of the terms and conditions governing the products and services. ICICI Bank also reserves the right to discontinue the products and services without assigning any reasons whatsoever. Any references to timelines or service levels are only indicative and should not be construed to refer to any commitment by us or any other service provider.

The information contained in this document is not intended to nor should it be construed to represent that ICICI Bank provides any products or services in any jurisdiction where it is not licensed or registered or authorised to do so. The information provided herein is not intended nor should it be construed to represent that ICICI Bank is soliciting. The information provided herein is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person in any jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation. ICICI Bank and the “I man” logo are the trademarks and property of ICICI Bank.

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• Pares interest rates for affordable home loans upto Rs 30 lakh
• Offers among the lowest interest rates in the industry
• First bank to offer borrowers choice of home loans linked to I-MCLR-6 Months or I-MCLR-1 Year
• Loans available with floating as well as 2/3 year fixed interest rate

Mumbai: ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets, today announced reduction of interest rates by upto 30 basis points for home loans upto Rs 30 lakh in its bid to boost affordable housing in the country. With this reduction, salaried borrowers can avail home loans at among the lowest rates in the industry. Salaried women borrowers will get home loans at 8.35% and others at 8.40%.

In both these cases, the reduction in interest rates is 30 basis points from the previous rates. Customers taking home loans in the affordable segment will also have the option to select the type of interest rate. They can enjoy the benefit of floating interest rate or a fixed interest rate for the initial two/three years followed by floating rate.

Further, borrowers can also choose to link their home loans with I-MCLR-6 Months or I-MCLR-1 Year. The Bank is the first to offer such flexibility to customers. The reduced rate will be effective from May 15, 2017 for new borrowers.

Commenting on the initiative, Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank, said, “ICICI Bank is committed to support the Government’s vision to provide housing for all by 2022. In line with this commitment, we have reduced the home loan interest rates for the affordable housing segment. With this announcement, customers of Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Low Income Group (LIG) can avail the dual benefit of low interest rates from us and the Credit Linked Subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. I believe that this initiative, along with the Bank’s expansion of home loan business in tier II cities, will empower a larger section of customers to realise the dream of owning a new home.”

Details of new home loan rates effective May 15, 2017

Category	I-MCLR-6M (8.15% May 2017)	I-MCLR-1Y (8.20% May 2017)
Salaried Borrower Loan Amount <= Rs 3.0 Mn
Women Borrower	I-MCLR-6M + 0.20% = 8.35%	I-MCLR-1Y + 0.15% = 8.35%
Others	I-MCLR-6M + 0.25% =  8.40%	I-MCLR-1Y + 0.20% = 8.40%
Self Employed Borrower Loan Amount <= Rs 3.0 Mn
Women Borrower	I-MCLR-6M + 0.35% = 8.50%	I-MCLR-1Y + 0.30%= 8.50%
Others	I-MCLR-6M + 0.40% =8.55%	I-MCLR-1Y+ 0.35% = 8.55%

The definition of weaker sections for the purpose of home loans is governed by the guidelines under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

About ICICI Bank Ltd: ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE:IBN) is India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets. The Bank’s consolidated total assets stood at US$ 152.0 billion at March 31, 2017. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s leading private sector insurance, asset management, securities brokerage and primary dealership companies, and among the country’s largest private equity firms. It is present across 17 countries, including India.

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• First Indian woman to receive the award
• Previous Indian recipients include Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and Narayana Murthy

Mumbai: Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Global Corporate Citizenship from the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC on May 10, 2017.

The award was conferred on Ms. Kochhar for demonstrating a commitment to the common good – beyond the bottom line. It signifies the tremendous work done by ICICI Group under Ms. Kochhar’s able leadership in improving the lives of people in the local communities and the world at large.

On the occasion, Ms. Kochhar said, “I would like to accept this honour on behalf of India, its women and the ICICI Group. The Group has been serving India for six decades since independence. Over the years, we have gone beyond our businesses to take up philanthropic projects in diverse areas from education to healthcare to skilling. Today, we have provided skill training, free of cost, in technical trades, sales and office skills, to over 136,000 people, who are gainfully employed.”

Ms. Kochhar added, “As I see the list of past recipients of this honour, I feel inspired to be counted as one among them. It is a distinguished and varied list, reflecting not only the wide range of achievements of these individuals, but also the Woodrow Wilson Centre’s commitment to recognise and honour excellence across every area of human endeavour.”

The Wilson Center (www.wilsoncenter.org), chartered by Congress as the official memorial to President Woodrow Wilson, is the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue to inform actionable ideas for the policy community.

Another recipient this year is Senator Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the Senate. He was conferred the 2017 Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service.

Mr. Thomas Nides, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Wilson Center, said “The Woodrow Wilson Awards are a special opportunity to recognize individuals who are thoughtful leaders, engaged citizens and vocal advocates in their communities. Chanda Kochhar is known for her leading roles in strengthening ICICI Bank’s retail franchise, improving technological innovation in India, and helping expand opportunities for women.”

Previous recipients of the Woodrow Wilson Awards include former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam; Infosys founder N. R. Narayana Murthy, U.S. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson as well as four former U.S. Secretaries of State – Dr. Henry Kissinger, General Colin Powell, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice.

ICICI Group has a rich legacy of promoting inclusive growth. It offers occupational skill building programmes free of cost at its 24 skill training centres across India. Under this programme, it has trained over 136,000 youth and has helped them to get employed. Recently, the Group has completed the transformation of 100 villages into ‘ICICI Digital Villages’ across 17 states in India in 100 days. During this transformation, it has provided vocational training to over 11,300 villagers, including over 7,500 women, in 100 days. It has also provided credit and market linkages to the villagers enabling many of them to set up entrepreneurial ventures. ICICI Bank will expand the number of such digital villages by another 500 by December 2017.

About ICICI Bank Ltd: ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE:IBN) is India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets. The Bank’s consolidated total assets stood at US$ 152.0 billion at March 31, 2017. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s leading private sector insurance, asset management, securities brokerage and primary dealership companies, and among the country’s largest private equity firms. It is present across 17 countries, including India.

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• Even customers of other banks can use it
• The app also offers value-added services like mandi prices and weather trends
• Available in eleven Indian languages, the most in the industry

Mumbai: ICICI Bank Ltd., India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets, announced the launch of a unique mobile banking app for rural customers that allow them to access banking services as well as information on agri services. Anyone including non-ICICI Bank customers can also download and use the app which is available in eleven Indian languages.

Christened, ‘Mera iMobile’, it allows users in rural areas to avail as many as 135 services — some of which are unprecedented in the industry — on their mobile phone, helping them to save the time and cost of visiting a branch to avail these services. The list of services include Kisan Credit Card, Gold Loan, Farm Equipment Loan and loans to Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The app also enables them to undertake an array of frequently used banking services from their smartphone, without using mobile internet services.

Additionally, it is the first banking app to offer agriculture related information like crop-wise mandi prices of nearly 230 crop varieties across 460 mandis. It also displays taluka-wise weather update for close to 3700 talukas across and over 300 districts, aiding farmers to plan their sowing and harvesting activities conveniently and in an informed manner. ‘Mera iMobile’ is the only banking app to provide these value added services in one single app for the rural customer.

Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank said, “At ICICI Bank, we believe in investing in innovative technology much ahead of its time. In line with this philosophy, ICICI Bank has pioneered many innovative solutions for its customers like internet, mobile, Tab and ‘Touch Banking’ branches among others. Today, India has the second largest – internet user base and smartphone market globally. We envisage that the next wave of growth in internet usage will come from rural India due to growth in cheaper smartphone handsets, spread of wireless networks and evolving consumer behavior.

With the new ‘Mera iMobile’, we will offer our rural and semi-urban customers a unique and unparalleled experience in their interactions with the bank. ‘Mera iMobile’ is a result of extensive research and has evolved into the country’s first comprehensive offering for rural customers on smartphone with 135 services and in eleven Indian languages. It enables any user, even if they are not ICICI Bank customers, to download the app and get access to agri related advisory on mandi prices and weather. These aid in saving time and effort of travel to the branch and the mandi for various services. We believe this app will resonate with the needs of the rural customers and aim to have over half a million downloads in the next six months.”

‘Mera iMobile’ has been specially created to be ‘light’ to enable customers in rural and semi-urban markets to download and run it easily even with low internet speed. To further aid quick download of the app, the Bank will introduce ‘WiFi enabled posters’ at its rural and semi-urban branches. To begin with, these posters will be deployed across 700 of the Bank’s branches. The Bank also plans to mount these posters on vans and cycles to enable download of the app at places with high footfalls like haats and common areas in villages.

Any ICICI Bank customer with a rural savings account / Kisan Credit Card/ Gold Loan/ Self-Help Group/ other agri loans can download ‘Mera iMobile’ from Google Play store on their Android smartphone. Non-ICICI Bank customers can also download to use the agriculture advisory related services.

The key services of ‘Mera iMobile’ are:

• Integrated offering of rural banking accounts in the app: It is the only banking app to offer rural banking services like Kisan Credit Card (KCC), gold loan, loans to SHG  and tractor loans. Customers can now view details including outstanding interest, available limit, account statement, among others, on the app itself. They can also make payments from within the app from their linked savings account for KCC. Shortly, customers will also be able to renew these loans from the app itself.

• Value- added services of agri-information: Users can avail information on weather   and prevailing crop prices from the app. It is the first banking app to offer these additional services. Anyone, including non ICICI Bank customers can download the app to avail the advisory related services. To begin with, this information will be available in agri-dominant districts.

• Availability of services without using mobile internet services: The app offers 14 frequently used banking services which can be used without using mobile internet services. These SMS based services that can be done from ‘Mera iMobile’ are a marked improvement over the SMS Banking services available in feature phones. Available as pre-formatted templates, customers can conveniently complete their frequent transactions by simply adding few details. These services include fund transfer, bill payment, cheque book request, recharges and balance enquiry among others.

• Offers the app in multiple languages: The app is available in eleven Indian languages and English. The languages include Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Odia, Assamese and Punjabi. It is also the first banking app to offer UPI services in multiple Indian languages.

To read more about ‘Mera iMobile’, visit https://www.icicibank.com/meraimobile

This announcement is a part of the Bank’s continuing effort to provide a robust digital ecosystem across the country, including rural India. Recently, the Bank had announced that it will transform 100 villages into ‘ICICI Digital Villages’ in as many days, making it the largest village promotion programme in the country encompassing digitisation of transactions & commercial activities, vocational training and credit facility to help villagers earn a sustainable livelihood.

ICICI Bank is by far the largest private sector bank in the financial inclusion space in India. Over 50% of the Bank’s wide branch network is in rural and semi-urban areas with over 2300 branches. Significantly, of these branches, 473 branches have been set up in unbanked villages which were devoid of any banking facility hitherto. At December 31, 2016, ICICI Bank had 21 million Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDA), of which, 3.2 million were opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), by far the highest among private sector banks.

About ICICI Bank Ltd: ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE:IBN) is India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets. The Bank’s consolidated total assets stood at US$ 144.7 billion at September 30, 2016. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s leading private sector insurance, asset management and securities brokerage companies, and among the country’s largest private equity firms. It is present across 17 countries, including India.

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• Offers diverse set of over 250 APIs from the BFSI sector for prototype development
• Participants will get access to APIs from NPCI, VISA, IBM among others
• Top three winners to get over Rs 20 lakh of prize money

Mumbai: ICICI Bank Limited, India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets, today announced the launch of the second season of ‘ICICI Appathon’, its virtual mobile app development challenge. It is India’s largest mobile app development initiative by a bank in the FinTech and InsurTech space which offers access of over 250 diverse APIs to the participants. The programme aims to create the next generation of banking applications on mobile and web space by attracting developers, technology companies, startups, technopreneurs and students across the globe.

Last year, the ‘ICICI Appathon’ challenge witnessed an overwhelming response from over 2,000 participants including a large number of entries from international developers and startups. As a testimony towards nurturing young developers, the bank incorporated the winning mobile innovation of enabling payments using digital keyboard into its mobile banking app within 100 days of the completion of ‘ICICI Appathon’. Christened, ‘iMobile Smartkeys’, it is the first payment service in Asia that allows payments and banking from a smartphone keyboard.

Speaking about the initiative, Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank said, “At ICICI Bank, technology has been at the core of our strategy. In line with this, we introduced a global mobile app development challenge, ‘ICICI Appathon’, last year. It allowed us to foster innovation and tap into the minds of the most innovative developers across the world. Post the event, the winning entry that enabled payments using digital keyboards was incorporated into the Bank’s mobile banking application and named ‘iMobile SmartKeys’. As a testimony towards nurturing young developers, ICICI Bank incorporated this innovative solution within a quarter of completion of ‘ICICI Appathon’.

Through ‘ICICI Appathon’ season II, we intend to collaborate with more such innovative technopreneurs. We believe that programmes like these will encourage young developers to create world class banking applications on mobile and will strengthen the Government’s ‘Digital India’ mission.”

TR Ramachandran, Visa Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, said: “Visa is proud to support the ICICI Appathon, a mobile app development challenge. There’s never been a more important time for the development of innovative payment solutions in India, so we’re excited to see what apps the best and brightest minds can create using Visa’s APIs. Good luck to all the competitors and we’re looking forward to the judging process.”

Chetan Naik, Vice President, Sales, IBM India/South Asia, said, “IBM is committed to be the technology partner for the ICICI Appathon for the second year in a row. Developers and start-ups will tap into the power of IBM’s open cloud platform, Bluemix to build next generation mobile apps quickly and easily. In addition to providing technical guidance and mentorship to participants, IBM will also award startup winners with IBM Cloud credits as a part of the IBM Global Entrepreneur program.  This collaboration brings together IBM’s technology strength with the exceptional talent of developers and start-ups to foster innovation and growth for India.”

Hosted on the IBM Bluemix cloud based platform, ‘ICICI Appathon’ will offer a diverse set of over 60 APIs (Application Programme Interface) from ICICI Bank and its group companies namely ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance and ICICI Securities. The participants will also get access to 190 payment APIs from ‘VISA’, National Payment Council of India (NPCI) and cloud platform from IBM to create working prototypes in a sandbox environment, a secured test environment.

Using these APIs, participants will have to create innovative working prototypes of mobile applications that provide a superior customer experience. To make this challenge an exciting experience, ICICI Bank has partnered with industry leaders like IBM, Google, VISA, NPCI, Infosys Finacle, TCS and 91springboard.

Freelance developers, technology enthusiasts working in companies, startups and students from the technology space can participate in the ‘ICICI Appathon’ in the following way:

• Registration: Participants can register on www.iciciappathon.com till March 20, 2017. The names of the shortlisted candidates will be announced on March 27, 2017. They will be given access to the APIs hosted on the IBM Bluemix platform on March 28, 2017

• Development: Participants will have to create minimum one innovative working prototype using the virtual banking and financial services APIs. These need to be submitted by April 18, 2017

• Evaluation: Finalists will be announced on April 25, 2017. They will be invited to Mumbai to compete in the ‘Grand Finale’ in May 2017

Three ‘ICICI Appathon’ champions will be selected by a jury of eminent leaders from the banking industry and startup ecosystem. All participants will be judged on criteria that include novelty, functionality, business potential and relevance, user experience and scalability.

The top three winners will win prizes from a pool of over Rs. 20 lakh along with a potential engagement opportunity with ICICI Bank. They also stand to win USD 20,000 worth of ‘Google Cloud Credits’ for further development of their products. One of the finalists will also have the opportunity to co-develop a proof of concept with Infosys Finacle and to showcase their product/innovation at the Infosys Confluence at San Francisco. Additionally, winners of the ‘ICICI Appathon’, who apply to the ‘10,000 Startups’ of NASSCOM will get a fast tracked entry into it. Moreover, two members of the winning team shall also have access to the network and co-working community of 91springboard (a co-working community of freelancers, startups and established small to large businesses) across India for next three months. Top three Appathon winners will get gift vouchers worth Rs. 25,000 each from Envestnet|Yodlee, cloud based digital financial platform. Winners will also get an opportunity to present their ideas to the executive team of Envestnet|Yodlee at their flagship event – GarageFest 2017.

For technical queries on the ‘ICICI Appathon’, kindly write to developer@iciciappathon.com

For queries related to the programme format, please write to event@iciciappathon.com

To know more about ICICI Appathon please visit www.iciciappathon.com

For latest information on the Bank, visit www.icicibank.com and follow www.twitter.com/ICICIBank

About ICICI Bank Ltd: ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE:IBN) is India’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets. The Bank’s consolidated total assets stood at US$ 144.7 billion at September 30, 2016. ICICI Bank’s subsidiaries include India’s leading private sector insurance, asset management and securities brokerage companies, and among the country’s largest private equity firms. It is present across 17 countries, including India.

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