The Directors have pleasure in presenting the Twenty-Fifth Annual Report of ICICI Bank Limited (ICICI Bank/the Bank) along with the audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2019.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
The financial performance for fiscal 2019 is summarised in the following table:
Rs. in billion, except percentages
|
Fiscal 2018
|
Fiscal 2019
|
% change
|
Net interest income and other income
|
404.45
|
415.27
|
2.7%
|
Operating expenses
|
157.04
|
180.89
|
15.2%
|
Core operating profit
|
189.39
|
220.72
|
16.5%
|
Treasury income
|
58.02
|
13.66
|
(76.5)%
|
Operating profit
|
247.41
|
234.38
|
(5.3)%
|
Provisions & contingencies (excluding tax)
|
173.07
|
196.61
|
13.6%
|
Profit before tax
|
74.34
|
37.77
|
(49.2)%
|
Profit after tax
|
67.77
|
33.63
|
(50.4)%
|
|
Rs. in billion, except percentages
|
Fiscal 2018
|
Fiscal 2019
|
% change
|
Consolidated profit before tax and minority interest
|
109.78
|
74.08
|
(32.5)%
|
Consolidated profit after tax and minority interest
|
77.12
|
42.54
|
(44.8)%
|
APPROPRIATIONS
The profit after tax of the Bank for fiscal 2019 is Rs. 33.63 billion after provisions and contingencies of Rs. 196.61 billion, provision for taxes of Rs. 4.14 billion and all expenses. The accumulated profit is Rs. 218.58 billion, taking into account the balance of Rs. 179.70 billion brought forward from the previous year and credit of Rs. 5.25 billion in balance in profit and loss account towards reversal of provision for frauds on non-retail accounts created in earlier years through accumulated profits. Your Bank has a consistent dividend payment history. Your Bank’s dividend policy is based on the profitability and key financial metrics, capital position and requirements and the regulations pertaining to the payment of dividend. In line with the above, your Directors have recommended a dividend of Rs. 1.00 per equity share for the year ended March 31, 2019 and have appropriated the disposable profit as follows:
Rs. in billion
|
Fiscal 2018
|
Fiscal 2019
|
To Statutory Reserve, making in all Rs. 237.38 billion
|
16.94
|
8.41
|
To Special Reserve created and maintained in terms of Section 36(1) (viii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, making in all Rs. 95.04 billion
|
6.00
|
5.25
|
To Capital Reserve, making in all Rs. 128.54 billion1
|
25.66
|
0.28
|
To Capital Redemption Reserve, making in all Rs. 3.50 billion2 (amount appropriated from surplus profit available for previous years)
|
-
|
3.50
|
To Investment Fluctuation Reserve, making in all Rs. 12.69 billion3
|
-
|
12.69
|
To Revenue and other reserves, making in all Rs. 40.28 billion4
|
7.01
|
0.01
|
Dividend paid during the year
|
|
|
- On equity shares, during fiscal 2019 @ Rs. 1.50 per share of face value Rs. 2.00 each (during fiscal 2018 @ Rs. 2.50 per share)
|
14.57
|
9.65
|
- On preference shares2, during fiscal 2019 @ 100.00 per preference shares (?) (during fiscal 2018 @ Rs. 100.00 per share)
|
35,000
|
35,000
|
- Corporate dividend tax
|
0.09
|
-
|
Leaving balance to be carried forward to the next year
|
179.70
|
178.79
|
1 Fiscal 2018 includes transfer of Rs. 24.90 billion on account of sale of part of equity investment in the Bank’s insurance subsidiary.
2 Redeemable Non-Cumulative Preference Shares (350 RNCPS) of Rs. 10.0 million each were redeemed at par on April 20, 2018. Accordingly, an equivalent amount was transferred to Capital Redemption Reserve from surplus profit available for previous years.
3 Represents an amount transferred to Investment Fluctuation Reserve (IFR) from disposable profit. As per the RBI guidelines, from the year ended March 31, 2019, an amount not less than the lower of net profit on sale of available-for-sale (AFS) and held-to-maturity (HFT) category investments during the year or net profit for the year less mandatory appropriations is required to be transferred to IFR, until the amount of IFR is at least 2% of the HFT and AFS portfolio.
4 Includes transfer of Rs. 7.6 million to Reserve Fund for fiscal 2019 (f 10.6 million for fiscal 2018) in accordance with regulations applicable to the Sri Lanka branch.
The Bank prepares its financial statements in accordance with the applicable accounting standards, RBI guidelines and other applicable laws/regulations. RBI, under its risk-based supervision exercise, carries out the risk assessment of the Bank on an annual basis. This assessment is initiated subsequent to the finalisation, completion of audit and publication of audited financial statements for a financial year and typically occurs a few months after the financial year-end. As a part of this assessment, RBI separately reviews asset classification and provisioning of credit facilities given by the Bank to its borrowers. The divergences, if any, in classification or provisioning arising out of the supervisory process are given effect to in the financial statements in subsequent periods after conclusion of the exercise.
In terms of the RBI circular no. //DBR.BPBC.No. 32/21.04.018/ 2018-19 dated April 1, 2019, banks are required to disclose the divergences in asset classification and provisioning consequent to RBI’s annual supervisory process in their notes to accounts to the financial statements, wherever either (a) the additional provisioning requirements assessed by RBI exceed 10% of the reported net profits before provisions and contingencies or (b) the additional gross non-performing assets (NPAs) identified by RBI exceed 15% of the published incremental gross NPAs for the reference period, or both. Based on the condition mentioned in RBI circular, no disclosure on divergence in asset classification and provisioning for NPAs is required with respect to RBI’s supervisory process for fiscal 2018.
SHARE CAPITAL
During the year under review, the Bank allotted 18,248,877 equity shares of Rs. 2.00 each pursuant to exercise of stock options under the Employee Stock Option Scheme. For details refer to Schedule 1 of the financial statements.
PARTICULARS OF LOANS, GUARANTEES OR INVESTMENTS
Pursuant to Section 186(11) of the Companies Act, 2013, the provisions of Section 186 of the Companies Act, 2013, except sub-section (1), do not apply to a loan made, guarantee given or security provided by a banking company in the ordinary course of business. The particulars of investments made by the Bank are disclosed in Schedule 8 of the financial statements as per the applicable provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
SUBSIDIARY, ASSOCIATE AND JOINT VENTURE COMPANIES
There is no change in the subsidiaries of the Bank during fiscal 2019. The definition of the subsidiary company and associate company under the Companies Act, 2013 was changed during fiscal 2019. One of the criterion for identification of a subsidiary company or an associate company was changed from percentage holding in total share capital of the investee company to percentage voting power in the investee company. Pursuant to the changes in the definition of subsidiary company and associate company, Shree Renuka Sugars Limited and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited ceased to be associate companies of the Bank. Further, Arteria Technologies Private Limited became an associate company of the Bank during fiscal 2019. The particulars of subsidiary and associate companies as on March 31, 2019 have been included in Form MGT-9 which is annexed to this Report.
HIGHLIGHTS OF PERFORMANCE OF SUBSIDIARIES, ASSOCIATES AND JOINT VENTURE COMPANIES AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE OF THE COMPANY
The performance of subsidiaries and associates and their contribution to the overall performance of the Bank as on March 31, 2019 is given in “Consolidated Financial Statements of ICICI Bank Limited - Schedule 18 - Note 13 -Additional information to consolidated accounts” of this Annual Report. A summary of key financials of the Bank’s subsidiaries is also given in “Statement Pursuant to Section 129 of Companies Act, 2013” of this Annual Report.
The highlights of the performance of key subsidiaries are given as a part of Management’s Discussion & Analysis under the section “Consolidated financials as per Indian GAAP”.
The Bank will make available separate audited financial statements of the subsidiaries to any Member upon request. These documents/details will be available on the Bank’s website at https://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/annual.html and will also be available for inspection by any Member or trustee of the holder of any debentures of the Bank at its Registered Office and Corporate Office. As required by Accounting Standard 21 (AS-21) issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the Bank’s consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report incorporate the accounts of its subsidiaries and other consolidating entities.
SIGNIFICANT AND MATERIAL ORDERS PASSED BY THE REGULATORS OR COURTS OR TRIBUNALS IMPACTING THE GOING CONCERN STATUS OF THE COMPANY AND ITS FUTURE OPERATIONS
There are no significant and/or material orders passed by the regulators or courts or tribunals impacting the going concern status or future operations of the Bank.
MATERIAL CHANGES AND COMMITMENT AFFECTING FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE BANK
There are no material changes and commitments, affecting the financial position of the Bank which have occurred between the end of the financial year of the Bank to which the financial statements relate and the date of this Report.
DIRECTORS AND OTHER KEY MANAGERIAL PERSONNEL
Changes in the composition of the Board of Directors and other Key Managerial Personnel
Since the date of the last Directors’ Report, the Board approved the appointments of Hari L. Mundra, Rama Bijapurkar, B. Sriram and Subramanian Madhavan as additional Directors for a period of five years from the date of their appointment. All the above four Directors hold office upto the date of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) and are eligible for appointment. Their appointments are being proposed in the Notice of the forthcoming AGM through item nos. 6, 7, 8 and 9.
The Members at the last AGM held on September 12, 2018 approved the appointments of Radhakrishnan Nair and M. D. Mallya as independent Directors.
Further, the Members at the last AGM held on September 12, 2018 approved the appointment of Sandeep Bakhshi as a Wholetime Director and Chief Operating Officer. The Board at its Meeting held on October 4, 2018 appointed Sandeep Bakhshi as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer for a period of five years until October 3, 2023, subject to regulatory approvals. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has vide its letter dated October 15, 2018, approved the appointment for a period of three years effective October 15, 2018. Approval of the Members is being sought for Sandeep Bakhshi’s appointment as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for five years in the Notice of the forthcoming AGM through item no.10.
The Board of Directors at its Meeting held on October 4, 2018 accepted the request of Chanda Kochhar to seek early retirement from the Bank with immediate effect. However, the Board at its meeting held on January 30, 2019 reconsidered her separation from the Bank and regarded the same as ‘Termination for Cause’, having effect from the close of business hours of the Board Meeting i.e. January 30, 2019 after considering the Enquiry Report of Hon’ble Mr. Justice (Retd.) B.N. Srikrishna.
Lok Ranjan, Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance was nominated by Government of India as a Government Nominee Director on the Board of the Bank in place of Amit Agrawal, with effect from April 5, 2018.
Lalit Kumar Chandel, Economic Adviser, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance has been nominated by Government of India as a Government Nominee Director on the Board of the Bank in place of Lok Ranjan, with effect from December 4, 2018.
The Board of Directors on May 6, 2019 approved the appointment of Sandeep Batra as an Additional Director and Wholetime Director (designated as Executive Director) for a period of five years effective May 7, 2019 or the date of approval of his appointment by RBI, whichever is later. The said appointment is also subject to the approval of Members. Approval of the Members is being sought for Sandeep Batra’s appointment for five years in the Notice of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting through item nos. 11 and 12.
Vijay Chandok ceased to be a Director of the Bank at the end of day on May 6, 2019 and assumes office as Managing Director & CEO of ICICI Securities Limited with effect from May 7, 2019.
Pursuant to completion of maximum permissible tenure of eight years as per the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, Tushaar Shah, independent Director, ceased to be a Director on the Board of the Bank effective close of business hours on May 2, 2018. Pursuant to the internal movement, N. S. Kannan ceased to be a Director of the Bank effective close of business hours on June 18, 2018. M. K. Sharma ceased to be a non-executive Director and part-time Chairman of the Bank effective close of business hours on June 30, 2018 consequent to the completion of his tenure of three years as approved by the RBI. M. D. Mallya, Independent Director, tendered his resignation due to health reasons and ceased to be a Director effective October 4, 2018 and the same was accepted by the Board. Pursuant to completion of their primary tenure under the Companies Act, 2013, Dileep Choksi and V. K. Sharma, independent Directors ceased to be Directors on the Board of the Bank effective April 1, 2019.
The Board acknowledges the valuable contribution and guidance provided by the above Directors.
The Board of Directors at its Meeting held on July 27, 2018 appointed Ranganath Athreya as the Company Secretary and Compliance Officer of the Bank effective July 28, 2018. The Board in the same Meeting noted the cessation of P Sanker, as the Company Secretary and Compliance Officer of the Bank effective close of business hours on July 27, 2018.
Declaration of Independence
All independent Directors have given declarations that they meet the criteria of independence as laid down under Section 149 of the Companies Act, 2013 as amended (the Act) and Regulation 16 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, (SEBI Listing Regulations) which have been relied on by the Bank and were placed at the Board Meeting held on May 6, 2019. In the opinion of the Board, the independent Directors fulfil the conditions specified in the Act and the SEBI Listing Regulations and are independent of the Management.
Retirement by rotation
In terms of Section 152 of the Companies Act, 2013, Anup Bagchi would retire by rotation at the forthcoming AGM and is eligible for re-appointment. Anup Bagchi has offered himself for re-appointment.
AUDITORS
Statutory Auditors
At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on September 12, 2018, the Members approved the appointment of M/s Walker Chandiok & Co LLP, Chartered Accountants, as statutory auditors to hold office from the conclusion of the Twenty-Fourth AGM till the conclusion of the Twenty-Fifth AGM. As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, the statutory auditors of the banking companies are allowed to continue for a period of four years, subject to fulfilling the prescribed eligibility norms. Accordingly, M/s Walker Chandiok & Co LLP, Chartered Accountants, would be eligible for re-appointment at the conclusion of the forthcoming AGM. As recommended by the Audit Committee, the Board has proposed the re-appointment of M/s Walker Chandiok & Co LLP, Chartered Accountants, as statutory auditors for the year ending March 31, 2020 (fiscal 2020). M/s Walker Chandiok & Co LLP, Chartered Accountants, will hold office from the conclusion of the forthcoming AGM till the conclusion of the Twenty-Sixth AGM, subject to the approval of Members of the Bank, RBI and other regulatory approvals as may be necessary or required. The re-appointment of the statutory auditors is proposed to the Members in the Notice of the forthcoming AGM through item no. 4.
There are no qualifications, reservation or adverse remarks made by the statutory auditors in the audit report.
Secretarial Auditors
The Board appointed M/s. Parikh Parekh & Associates, a firm of Company Secretaries in Practice to undertake the Secretarial Audit of the Bank for fiscal 2019. The Secretarial Audit Report is annexed herewith as Annexure A. There are no qualifications, reservation or adverse remark or disclaimer made by the auditor in the report save and except disclaimer made by them in discharge of their professional obligation.
Maintenance of Cost Records
Being a Banking Company, the Bank is not required to maintain cost records as specified by the Central Government under Section 148(1) of the Companies Act, 2013.
Reporting of Frauds by Auditors
During the year under review, there were no instances of fraud reported by the statutory auditors, branch auditors and secretarial auditor under Section 143(12) of the Companies Act, 2013 to the Audit Committee or the Board of Directors.
PERSONNEL
The statement containing particulars of employees as required under Section 197(12) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 5(2) of the Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014 is given in an Annexure and forms part of this report. In terms of Section 136(1) of the Companies Act, 2013, the annual report and the financial statements are being sent to the Members excluding the aforesaid Annexure. The Annexure is available for inspection at the Registered office of the Bank. Any Member interested in obtaining a copy of the Annexure may write to the Company Secretary of the Bank.
INTERNAL CONTROL AND ITS ADEQUACY
The Bank has adequate internal controls and processes in place with respect to its financial statements which provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements. These controls and processes are driven through various policies, procedures and certifications. The processes and controls are reviewed periodically. The Bank has a mechanism of testing the controls at regular intervals for their design and operating effectiveness to ascertain the reliability and authenticity of financial information.
DISCLOSURE UNDER FOREIGN EXCHANGE MANAGEMENT ACT, 1999
The Bank has obtained a certificate from its statutory auditors that it is in compliance with the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 provisions with respect to investments made in its consolidated subsidiaries and associates during fiscal 2019.
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
The Bank undertakes various transactions with related parties in the ordinary course of business. The Bank has a Board approved policy on Related Party Transactions, which has been disclosed on the website of the Bank at (https://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/ other-policies.page?#toptitle). The Bank also has a Board approved Group Arm’s Length Policy which requires transactions with the group companies to be at arm’s length. The transactions between the Bank and its related parties, during the year ended March 31, 2019, were in the ordinary course of business and based on the principles of arm’s length. The details of material related party transactions at an aggregate level for the year ended March 31, 2019 are given in Annexure B.
ANNUAL RETURN
The extract of Annual Return in Form No. MGT 9 is annexed herewith as Annexure C. The Annual Return in Form No. MGT 7 will be hosted on the website of the Bank at https://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/annual.html.
BUSINESS RESPONSIBILITY REPORTING
The Business Responsibility Report as stipulated under Regulation 34 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 will be hosted on the website of the Bank at https://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/annual.html. Any Member interested in obtaining a physical copy of the same may write to the Company Secretary of the Bank.
INTEGRATED REPORTING
The Bank has sought to adopt the principles of the International Integrated Reporting Framework as developed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) in its Annual Report for fiscal 2019. For accessing the Integrated Report, please refer to the Annual Report 2018-2019 hosted on the website of the Bank at https://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/annual.html.
RISK MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
The Bank’s risk management framework is based on a clear understanding of various risks, disciplined risk assessment and measurement procedures and continuous monitoring. The policies and procedures established for this purpose are continuously benchmarked with international best practices. The Board of Directors has oversight on all the risks assumed by the Bank. Specific Committees have been constituted to facilitate focussed oversight of various risks, as follows:
- The Risk Committee of the Board reviews risk management policies of the Bank pertaining to credit, market, liquidity, operational and outsourcing risks and business continuity management. The Committee also reviews the Risk Appetite and Enterprise Risk Management frameworks, Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP) and stress testing. The stress testing framework includes a range of Bank-specific, market (systemic) and combined scenarios. The ICAAP exercise covers the domestic and overseas operations of the Bank, banking subsidiaries and non-banking subsidiaries. The Committee reviews migration to the advanced approaches under Basel II and implementation of Basel III, risk return profile of the Bank and the activities of the Asset Liability Management Committee. The Committee reviews the level and direction of major risks pertaining to credit, market, liquidity, operational, technology, compliance, group, management and capital at risk as a part of the risk dashboard. In addition, the Committee has oversight on risks of subsidiaries covered under the Group Risk Management Framework. The Risk Committee also reviews the Liquidity Contingency Plan for the Bank and the various thresholds set out in the Plan.
- The Credit Committee of the Board, apart from sanctioning credit proposals based on the Bank’s credit approval authorisation framework, reviews developments in key industrial sectors and the Bank’s exposure to these sectors as well as to large borrower accounts and borrower groups. The Credit Committee also reviews major credit portfolios, non-performing loans, accounts under watch, overdues and incremental sanctions.
- The Audit Committee of the Board provides direction to and monitors the quality of the internal audit function, oversees the financial reporting process and also monitors compliance with inspection and audit reports of RBI, other regulators and statutory auditors.
- The Asset Liability Management Committee provides guidance for management of liquidity of the overall Bank and management of interest rate risk in the banking book within the broad parameters laid down by the Board of Directors/Risk Committee.
Summaries of reviews conducted by these Committees are reported to the Board on a regular basis.
Policies approved from time to time by the Board of Directors/Committees of the Board form the governing framework for each type of risk. The business activities are undertaken within this policy framework. Independent groups and subgroups have been constituted across the Bank to facilitate independent evaluation, monitoring and reporting of various risks. These groups function independently of the business groups/subgroups.
The Bank has dedicated groups, namely, the Risk Management Group, Compliance Group, Corporate Legal Group, Internal Audit Group and the Financial Crime Prevention & Reputation Risk Management Group, with a mandate to identify, assess and monitor all of the Bank’s principal risks in accordance with well-defined policies and procedures. The Risk Management Group is further organised into the Credit Risk Management Group, Market Risk Management Group, Operational Risk Management Group and Information Security Group. The Chief Risk Officer (CRO) reports to the Risk Committee constituted by the Board which reviews risk management policies of the Bank. The CRO, for administrative purpose reports to President. The above mentioned groups are independent of all business operations and coordinate with representatives of the business units to implement the Bank’s risk management policies and methodologies. The Internal Audit and Compliance groups are responsible to the Audit Committee of the Board.
INFORMATION REQUIRED UNDER THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION & REDRESSAL) ACT, 2013
The Bank has a policy against sexual harassment and a formal process for dealing with complaints of harassment or discrimination. The said policy is in line with the requirements of the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013. The Bank has complied with provisions relating to the constitution of Internal Complaints Committee under the said Act.
Pursuant to the amendment to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the details pertaining to number of complaints during the year has been provided below:
a) number of complaints filed during the financial year: 59
b) number of complaints disposed off during the financial year: 59
c) number of complaints pending1 at end of the financial year: Nil
1 Complaints that are open beyond the applicable turnaround time (90 days). All complaints received during FY2019 have been closed within the applicable turnaround time.
The Bank is in compliance with requirements specified in Regulations 17 to 27 and clauses (b) to (i) of sub-regulation (2) of Regulation 46 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015.
The Bank has also complied with the discretionary requirements such as maintaining a separate office for the Chairman at the Bank’s expense, ensuring financial statements with unmodified audit opinion, separation of posts of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and reporting of internal auditor directly to the Audit Committee.
ANALYSIS OF CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS
a) Customer complaints in fiscal 2019
No. of complaints pending at the beginning of the year
|
6,209
|
No. of complaints received during the year
|
264,726
|
No. of complaints redressed during the year
|
262,259
|
No. of complaints pending at the end of the year
|
8,676
|
Note: The above does not include complaint redressed within 1 working day.
b) Awards passed by the Banking Ombudsman in fiscal 2019
No. of unimplemented awards at the beginning of the year
|
Nil
|
No. of awards passed by the Banking Ombudsman during the year
|
Nil
|
No. of awards implemented during the year
|
Nil
|
No. of unimplemented awards at the end of the year
|
Nil
|
COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATE OF THE AUDITORS
ICICI Bank has annexed to this Report, a certificate obtained from the statutory auditors, M/s Walker Chandiok & Co LLP, Chartered Accountants, regarding compliance of conditions of Corporate Governance as stipulated in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015.
EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTION SCHEME
The Bank has an Employee Stock Option Scheme (ESOS/Scheme) which was instituted in fiscal 2000 to enable the employees and wholetime Directors of ICICI Bank and its subsidiaries to participate in future growth and financial success of the Bank. The ESOS aims at achieving the twin objectives of (i) aligning employee interest to that of the shareholders; and (ii) retention of talent. Through employee stock option grants, the Bank seeks to foster a culture of long-term sustainable value creation. The Scheme is in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Share Based Employee Benefits) Regulations, 2014 (the SEBI Regulations). Pursuant to the SEBI Regulations, options are granted by the Board Governance, Remuneration & Nomination Committee (BGRNC) and noted by the Board.
The Scheme was initially approved by the Members at their meeting held on February 21, 2000 and amended from time to time.
The Members at the Annual General Meeting held on September 12, 2018 approved the change in exercise period to not exceeding five years from date of vesting of options as may be determined by the BGRNC for each grant. The above definition of Exercise Period has been made applicable to all future grants effective May 2018.
The Bank has upto March 31, 2019 granted 499.24 million stock options from time to time aggregating to 7.74% of the issued equity capital of the Bank at March 31, 2019. As per the ESOS, as amended from time to time, the maximum number of options granted to any employee/Director in a year is limited to 0.05% of ICICI Bank’s issued equity shares at the time of the grant, and the aggregate of all such options is limited to 10% of ICICI Bank’s issued equity shares on the date of the grant (equivalent to 644.62 million shares of face value Rs. 2 each at March 31, 2019).
Particulars of options granted by ICICI Bank as on March 31, 2019 are given below:
Number of options outstanding at the beginning of the year
|
235,672,250
|
Number of options granted during the year*
|
31,112,400
|
Number of options forfeited/lapsed during the year
|
18,979,999
|
Number of options vested during the year
|
46,916,376
|
Number of options exercised during the year
|
18,248,877
|
Number of shares arising as a result of exercise of options
|
18,248,877
|
Money realised by exercise of options during the year (?)
|
3,486,300,104
|
Number of options outstanding at the end of the year
|
229,555,774
|
Number of options exercisable at the end of the year
|
152,151,329
|
* Excludes options pertaining to Wholetime Directors pending for RBI approval.
The Bank follows the intrinsic value method to account for its stock-based employee compensation plans. The diluted earnings per share (EPS) pursuant to issue of shares on exercise of options calculated in accordance with Accounting Standard 20 (AS-20) was Rs. 5.17 in fiscal 2019 compared to basic EPS of Rs. 5.23. Based on the intrinsic value of options, no compensation cost was recognised during fiscal 2019. However, if the Bank had used the fair value of options based on the binomial tree model, compensation cost in fiscal 2019 would have been higher by Rs. 3.18 billion and proforma profit after tax would have been Rs. 30.45 billion. On a proforma basis, the Bank’s basic and diluted earnings per share would have been Rs. 4.73 and Rs. 4.68 respectively.
The key assumptions used to estimate the fair value of options granted during fiscal 2019 are given below:
Risk-free interest rate
|
7.32% to 8.31%
|
Expected life
|
3.64 to 6.64 years
|
Expected volatility
|
30.79% to 32.22%
|
Expected dividend yield
|
0.43% to 0.80%
|
The weighted average fair value of options granted during fiscal 2019 was Rs. 107.22 (Rs. 86.43 during fiscal 2018) and the weighted average exercise price of options granted during fiscal 2019 was Rs. 283.91 (Rs. 251.05 during fiscal 2018).
Risk free interest rates over the expected term of the option are based on the government securities yield in effect at the time of the grant. The expected term of an option is estimated based on the vesting term as well as expected exercise behavior of the employees who receive the option. Expected exercise behaviour is estimated based on the historical stock option exercise pattern of the Bank. Expected volatility during the estimated expected term of the option is based on historical volatility determined based on observed market prices of the Bank’s publicly traded equity shares. Expected dividends during the estimated expected term of the option are based on recent dividend activity.
The detailed disclosures as stipulated under Regulation 14 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Share Based Employee Benefits) Regulations, 2014 will be hosted on the website of the Bank at https://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/other-policies.page.
CONSERVATION OF ENERGY, TECHNOLOGY ABSORPTION, FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS AND OUTGO
The Bank has undertaken various initiatives for energy conservation at its premises. A detailed write up is given in the chapter Natural Capital, in the Integrated Report section of the Annual Report for fiscal 2019 and under Principle 6 of Section E of the Business Responsibility Report which will be available on the website of the Bank at https://www.icicibank.com/aboutus/annual.page. The Bank has used information technology extensively in its operations; for details refer to the chapter Strategic Focus Areas for Business in the Integrated Report section of the Annual Report for fiscal 2019.
UPDATE ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AT THE BANK
Shareholders were provided an update under this section last year that the Audit Committee of the Bank under direction given by the Board of Directors had instituted an independent enquiry, headed by a former Supreme Court Judge, Hon’ble Mr. Justice B. N. Srikrishna (Retd.), to consider various allegations relating to the then MD & CEO, Ms. Chanda Kochhar. The final findings and actions taken by the Board were disclosed by the Bank to the stock exchanges vide press release dated January 30, 2019 and is now generally available information. Shareholders can access the said press release at (www.icicibank.com). Any shareholder who requires a printed copy of this press release may also write to the Registrar and Transfer Agents of the Bank.
GREEN INITIATIVE IN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
In line with the continuing efforts towards ‘Green Initiative’, the Bank has effected electronic delivery of Notice of Annual General Meeting and Annual Report to those Members whose e-mail ids were registered with the Depository Participants/3i Infotech/Bank. The Companies Act, 2013 and the underlying rules as well as Regulation 36 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, permit the dissemination of financial statements and annual report in electronic mode to the Members. Your Directors are thankful to the Members for actively participating in the Green Initiative and seek your continued support.
SECRETARIAL STANDARDS
Your Bank is in compliance with the Secretarial Standard on Meetings of the Board of Directors (SS-1) and Secretarial Standard on General Meetings (SS-2) for the financial year ended March 31, 2019.
DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT
The Directors confirm:
1. that in the preparation of the annual accounts, the applicable accounting standards had been followed, along with proper explanation relating to material departures;
2. that they have selected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent, so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Bank at the end of the financial year and of the profit of the Bank for that period;
3. that they have taken proper and sufficient care for the maintenance of adequate accounting records, in accordance with the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and the Companies Act, 2013 for safeguarding the assets of the Bank and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities;
4. t hat they have prepared the annual accounts on a going concern basis;
5. t hat they have laid down internal financial controls to be followed by the Bank and that such internal financial controls are adequate and were operating effectively; and
6. that they have devised proper systems to ensure compliance with the provisions of all applicable laws and that such systems were adequate and operating effectively.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ICICI Bank is grateful to the Government of India, Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and overseas regulators for their continued co-operation, support and guidance. ICICI Bank wishes to thank its investors, the domestic and international banking community, rating agencies and stock exchanges for their support.
ICICI Bank would like to take this opportunity to express sincere thanks to its valued clients and customers for their continued patronage. The Directors express their deep sense of appreciation to all the employees, whose outstanding professionalism, commitment and initiative has made the organisation’s growth and success possible and continues to drive its progress. Finally, the Directors wish to express their gratitude to the Members for their trust and support.
For and on behalf of the Board
Girish Chandra Chaturvedi
May 6, 2019 Chairman
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