ICICI Bank Online

The Board of Directors of ICICI Bank Limited (NYSE: IBN) at its meeting held at Mumbai today, approved the audited accounts of the Bank for the nine months ended December 31, 2001 (Apr-Dec 2001). The Board of Directors has approved an interim dividend of Rs. 2.00 per share, subject to the approval of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Board also approved the unaudited US GAAP financial statements of the Bank for Apr-Dec 2001. Consequent to the amalgamation of Bank of Madura Limited with ICICI Bank effective March 10, 2001, the financial statements for Apr-Dec 2001 reflect the operations of the merged entity.

The highlights of ICICI Bank's performance during Apr-Dec 2001 compared to the nine months ended December 31, 2000 (Apr-Dec 2000) are:

Profit after tax as per Indian GAAP increased 82% to Rs. 201 crore;
Return on average net worth increased to 19.33% (annualised) from 12.25%;
Earnings per share increased to Rs. 12.19 (annualised) from Rs.7.50; and
Net income as per US GAAP increased 77% to Rs. 175 crore.

The profit after tax increased 73% to Rs. 70 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2001 (Q3-2002) from Rs. 41 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2000 (Q3-2001). The profit after tax increased 82% to Rs. 201 crore in Apr-Dec 2001 from Rs. 111 crore in Apr-Dec 2000. Net interest income increased 61% to Rs. 449 crore from Rs. 279 crore. Operating expenditure increased 106% to Rs. 439 crore from Rs. 213 crore, primarily due to the expenses on refurbishment and automation of branches after the acquisition of Bank of Madura Limited.

Progress on Merger of ICICI Limited (NYSE: IC), ICICI Personal Financial Services and ICICI Capital Services with ICICI Bank

The progress on the merger has been in line with the expected timeframe. The Scheme of Amalgamation ('the Scheme") has been filed with the High Court of Judicature at Bombay and the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad. An Extraordinary General Meeting of ICICI Bank shareholders has been convened on January 25, 2002, and of ICICI shareholders on January 30, 2002, to consider the Scheme. Discussions with RBI on the proposal for the merger and the merged entity's compliance with regulatory norms applicable to banks are in progress. Plans for integration of the operations of the four companies are also progressing satisfactorily. As provided in the Scheme, the Appointed Date for the merger shall be March 30, 2002, or the date from which RBI's approval becomes effective, whichever is later.

Total deposits increased to Rs. 22,920 crore at December 31, 2001, from Rs. 17,515 crore at September 30, 2001 and Rs. 16,378 crore at March 31, 2001. Retail deposits continued to constitute 60% of total deposits at December 31, 2001 (61% at March 31, 2001), reflecting ICICI Bank's successful retail thrust and the benefits arising from the acquisition of Bank of Madura. Savings deposits registered a robust growth of 130% to Rs. 2,332 crore from Rs. 1,007 crore at December 31, 2000. The average cost of deposits in Apr-Dec 2001 was 7.28% as compared to 7.93% in Apr-Dec 2000.

ICICI Bank has substantially increased its investments in Government securities ("SLR portfolio"). At December 31, 2001, ICICI Bank's SLR portfolio was Rs. 12,732 crore, an increase of Rs. 7,278 crore from September 30, 2001.

The ratio of net non-performing assets (NPAs) to customer assets was 1.36% at December 31, 2001 compared to 1.44% at March 31, 2001. The provisioning cover against NPAs was 65% at December 31, 2001. The Bank also maintains a general provision of 0.50% on standard assets and a provision for operational risks at 0.50% of the paid-up capital. ICICI Bank's total capital adequacy ratio at December 31, 2001 was 14.06%, of which Tier I capital constituted 10.99%.

During Apr-Dec 2001, the Bank added about 1.5 million new customer accounts taking the total customer accounts to 4.7 million. To efficiently distribute its products and services, ICICI Bank has developed multiple access channels comprising brick and mortar branches, automated teller machines (ATM), call centers and Internet banking. Currently the Bank has a network of 357 branches and 44 extension counters. Its network of 731 ATMs is the largest for any bank in the country. The bank has over one million Internet banking accounts. Customers in 100 cities can now access account information over the telephone. These investments in channel infrastructure have enabled ICICI Bank to achieve rapid growth in its retail business.

ICICI Bank is one of the largest incremental issuers of cards in India, with a credit card base of over 500,000 and a debit card base of over 430,000. ICICI Bank now has a total card base of over 2.5 million including ATM cards, credit cards, debit cards and smart cards. ICICI Bank has also commenced its acquiring business in three cities, and launched two co-branded credit card programmes.

ICICI Bank's net income increased 77% to Rs. 175 crore in Apr-Dec 2001 from Rs. 99 crore in Apr-Dec 2000. Net interest income increased 63% to Rs. 454 crore in Apr-Dec 2001 from Rs. 279 crore in Apr-Dec 2000.

The summary of the audited accounts for Apr-Dec 2001 under Indian GAAP and the unaudited accounts under US GAAP are enclosed.

The Record Date for ascertaining the shareholders eligible to receive interim dividend, is proposed to be fixed for Thursday, February 28, 2002, subject to approval of the Vadodara Stock Exchange Limited, the regional stock exchange for the Bank. The interim dividend would be paid on receipt of the necessary approval of the Reserve Bank of India.

The Board of Directors of the Bank has appointed Mr. P. M. Sinha as an Additional Director on the Board, with immediate effect. Mr. Sinha is the Chairman of PepsiCo India Holdings Limited and the President of Pepsi Foods Limited. Mr. Sinha is an alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, and has previously worked with Hindustan Lever Limited. Mr. Sinha brings to the Board wide experience in marketing and international trade. The Board now comprises 11 Directors, of whom 3 are whole-time Directors.

For investors' queries, contact:
Bhashyam Seshan - (91)-22-653 8420 or 653 7460 (bhashyams@icicibank.com)

Note : (a) Rs.= Indian Rupees (b) 1 crore = 10 million
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ICICI Bank and ICICI have made available Notice of the Shareholders' Meeting, a copy of the Scheme of Amalgamation and an Information Statement to their shareholders and American Depositary Receipt (ADR) holders. These documents contain important information about the merger. Shareholders and ADR holders are urged to read these documents carefully. Free copies of these documents may also be obtained from ICICI Bank and ICICI. ICICI Bank's and ICICI's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are also available to the public from commercial document-retrieval services or from the SEC website at http://www.sec.gov/.

Except for the historical information contained herein, statements in this Release which contain words or phrases such as 'will', 'would', etc., 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 our ability to obtain statutory and regulatory approvals and to successfully implement our strategy, future levels of non-performing loans, our growth and expansion in business, the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses, technological implementation and changes, the actual growth in demand for banking products and services, investment income, cash flow projections, our exposure to market risks as well as other risks detailed in the reports filed by us with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Bank undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof.