News: ICICI Bank mulls to unveil new remittance products

(ACERC 09/10/2006) Mumbai - Buoyed by the robust performance of its remittances business, ICICI Bank plans to launch a slew of innovative products in this segment before the end of this fiscal.The bank also plans to scale up its presence in the Gulf besides exploring alliance possibilities with overseas banks to boost this business, especially in the emerging markets. They have a few innovatively-structured products tailor-made for the remittances market in the pipeline slated for launch before March 2007. The products will be market-specific and possess a plethora of innovative features which will make the modes of disbursing and accepting funds very easy.

ICICI Bank currently enjoys an over 20 per cent market share in the $ 24 billion Indian remittances market. The remittances market has expanded robustly at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 15-to-20 per cent in the last three years and industry analysts expect the momentum to continue over the next three years as well. A million Indians go overseas annually, adding to the already existing huge stock of NRIs and PIOs. Western economies are ageing and to sustain their growth, they need not only skilled personnel but also an economically-productive work-force which is sourced from countries like India.