Leading private sector lender HDFC Bank has “exceeded” the single-borrower limits prescribed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in case of its credit exposure to corporate giant Reliance Industries (RIL).

The bank, however, said its board of directors approved “the said excess in respect of this exposure” and it was within the 20 per cent ceiling of capital funds. The central bank has fixed the credit exposure ceiling of a bank at 15 per cent of capital funds in the case of a single borrower and at 40 per cent for a borrower group.

In an indication of how major lenders are fighting it out to get a share of the tepidly growing loan market, ICICI Bank - the country largest private sector lender - reduced its base rate by only five basis points (bps) to 9.7 per cent, to match its biggest rivals, State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC Bank.

Loan demand, particularly from the corporate sector, has been sluggish amid a slowing economy while home and automobile loans are the only segments where banks are pushing.

Shares of ICICI Bank are trading higher by over 1% to Rs 296 on the BSE after the company decided raising Rs 50,000 crore through private placement of securities including bonds and non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

The bank has assessed its fund requirements and it is proposed that the borrowing limits… by way of securities including but not limited to bonds and NCDs be fixed at Rs 50,000 crore, a reduction from the limit of Rs 1,00,000 crore approved at the last Annual General Meeting (AGM), said the bank in the AGM notice sent to the exchanges.

Mumbai, June 9: ICICI Bank today announced the appointment of M.K. Sharma, former vice-chairman of Hindustan Unilever, as its non-executive chairman for a period of five years.

Sharma will replace K.V. Kamath, who will shortly step down from the board consequent to his nomination as the first president of the New Development Bank established by the Brics nations.

Mumbai, June 7: ICICI Bank, the country's second largest private bank, has decided to borrow considerably less in bonds in the current fiscal.

The lender will move a special resolution to seek shareholders' approval at the forthcoming annual general meeting for a borrowing limit of Rs 50,000 crore in bonds, much lower than the Rs 1,00,000 crore approved at the last meeting.

At a time when credit growth has been under pressure for most lenders, ICICI Bank — the country’s largest private sector lender — is confident of growing its loan book three-four per cent ahead of the system.

“We expect to sustain domestic loan growth in the range of 18-20 per cent, driven by about 25 per cent growth in the retail segment. In the domestic corporate portfolio, we expect growth of 10-15 per cent, driven primarily by increasing lending to higher-rated clients. The bank would continue to calibrate corporate loan growth to the trends in the environment,” said N S Kannan, executive director, in conference call with analysts.

ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender, aims to grow its loan book 3-4% ahead of credit growth this fiscal year.

In an investor presentation, the lender said that it will continue to be selective while lending to the corporate and SME sector.

After close to doubling their headcount in the past few years, leading private sector lenders ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have reduced their employee counts.

At the end of March this year, the employee base of ICICI Bank, India’s largest private lender, was 67,857, against 72,226 a year earlier. During 2010-2014, the bank’s employee base more than doubled from 35,256 to 72,226.

If you are an ICICI Bank customer then reaching out to the bank’s call centre has just become easies for you. The lender has launched a voice recognition feature, which will now be able to identify and authenticate customers based on your voice. Now, you no longer need to give out your account details or password in order to identify yourself.

This voice recognition technology works on voice prints that will comprise more than 100 characteristics such as voice modulation, speed, accent, pronunciation etc. These will be stored against the customer’s account and will be used to authenticate the details every time they call back.

The benchmark BSE Sensex today ended marginally lower by 28 points at 27,809.35 as blue-chips witnessed a mixed trend amid concerns over poor quarterly earnings and a diverse closing at other Asian markets.

Of 30 Sensex counters, 14 ended lower and 15 rose, while TCS settled unchanged.

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