News Release

December 20, 2000

ICICIDirect Launches India's First Integrated Online Mutual Fund Plaza

ICICIDirect.Com, the integrated online trading site, today launched India's first integrated Mutual Fund Plaza to enable online investment in mutual Funds. Initially, the MF Plaza will offer schemes from Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund and will add on other mutual funds in due course.

The entire experience of investing in Mutual Funds will now be hassle-free and seamless for ICICI Direct customers. They will not have to worry about filling up application forms, drawing cheques or visiting/contacting any physical outlets.

The MF Plaza would enable customers of ICICIDirect to transact online in various MF schemes through user friendly transactions including Purchases, Redemptions, Switches and Systematic Investment Plans (SIP) and Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP).

Background
Starting its services on April 17, 2000, ICICIDirect has become India's favourite online share trading site with over 100,000 registered users and a customer base of 50,000. ICICIDirect has a daily traded volume of Rs. 200 to 300 million. ICICIDirect has been launched by ICICI Web Trade Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of ICICI Limited (NYSE: IC).

The unique 3-in2 trading account of ICICIDirect offers a hassle-free and seamless trading experience for the customer. The customer's bank account, demat account and the broking account are linked automatically wherein the customer can transact without waiting to call the broker, get the order executed at a particular price and get the order confirmation details, draw/deposit cheques/TIFDs.

With ICICIDirect, customer needs to just place an order of the scrip chosen and at the desired price and the rest is done by the system. The transactions are sent to the exchange, order confirmation is immediate by email and proceeds/shares are credited/debited to the bank and demat accounts.

Online Mutual Fund Plaza
In the physical world, an investor in a Mutual Fund scheme will have to contact an empanelled broker, fill a physical application form, draw a cheque and wait for confirmation from the Mutual Fund. If the process gets delayed, the investor may miss out on that day's NAV.

Similarly, in case of redemptions/dividend pay-outs, the time taken to receive the moneys would also be dependent on the level of banking facilities available to the Investor as well as to the Mutual Fund. Further, in case of queries and delays, valuable time may also be spent in just contacting the Mutual Fund.

In contrast to the existing method of investing in mutual funds, the advantages of investing through ICICIDirect are multi-faceted. The customer would have a variety of mutual fund schemes to choose from and can invest at a click of the mouse (currently in the schemes of Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund, other Mutual Funds being added shortly).

In line with its unique technology-based service to its customers, ICICIDirect offers a seamless mutual fund investing experience through online linkages to the Mutual Fund and the customer's Bank account. Customers of ICICIDirect can transact online in mutual funds without filling any physical application form. Investment can start as soon as bank funds are allocated by the customer specifically for Mutual Fund transactions.

The customer gets to know the scheme details and the NAV, entry and exit load upfront. Further, transactions are sent to the registrar the same day for processing (if they are entered into prior to the scheme specific cut-off time), so as to get the same day's NAV.

The customer gets the order confirmation immediately by e-mail and the order book of the customer is updated instantaneously to track the various stages of the order. The customer's unit holding portfolio is updated three business days from the date of the transaction. Customers can check the value of their MF holdings on a daily basis as the system indicates the average acquisition price of units, current NAV and the consequent current total value of all their mutual fund investments at any point in time.

The dividend reinvestment/payout option for each scheme is just a click of the mouse away, and the dividend will be reinvested/paid and units will be allotted to the customer automatically.

Further, the unit holders of the schemes have the benefit of enrolling themselves in the Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) and Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) in various schemes. This is ideal for customers who want to meet their regular investment objectives.

The SIP and SWP are highly customer friendly and simple enough as the transactions will be processed as desired by the customer on the assigned dates. The customer will also be intimated 7 days in advance by e-mail to fund the bank account before the next installment for SIP becomes due.

The customer does not face any hassles of drawing cheques /making demand drafts and depositing warrants as all the financial transactions are completely automatic without any act on the part of the customer. The proceeds/units are debited/credited automatically.

With this, the customer need not keep tab of anything other than his e-brokerage account number and ICICIDirect will be the single point contact for the customer. ICICIDirect will answer all the customer queries relating to investments in any Mutual Fund offered through it.

Continuing its focus on customer needs, ICICIDirect would add more and more mutual funds on its plaza, to enable the customer to choose from a variety of Mutual Funds and schemes to suit his/her investment objectives.

Except for the historical information contained herein, statements in this release which contain words or phrases such as "will", "aim", "will likely result", "believe", "expect", "will continue", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend", "plan", "contemplate", "seek to", "future", "objective", "goal", "project", "should", "will pursue" and similar expressions or variations of such expressions may constitute "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to ICICI Group's ability to successfully implement our online strategy, our growth and expansion, the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses, technological changes, investment income, cash flow projections, our exposure to market risks as well as other risks detailed in the reports filed by ICICI Limited with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States. ICICI undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof.

For further press queries please call Charudatta Deshpande at 91-22-26538208 or
e-mail:charudatta.deshpande@icicbank.com.