Universal Access to Finance

Over the last decade, ICICI Group has had a significant impact on virtually every aspect of India’s expansion in access to finance, including:

• Channel and Technology Architecture

This is perhaps the area in which ICICI Group has had the most impact, virtually changing the entire financial inclusion landscape within the country. By introducing new models to deliver rural and micro credit, promoting the SHG-Bank Linkage, steering the introduction of Business Correspondents in India, and supporting organisations like FINO and MicroSave, ICICI Bank has provided considerable leadership and technical expertise to enable financial inclusion.

• Training, Research and Policy Advocacy

ICICI Bank is conscious that for mainstream financial institutions, working in rural India and with poor households is relatively uncharted territory. It has tried to base its growth strategies on sound evidence on what works at the household and local economy levels. In order to catalyse high quality work in the areas of training, research and policy advocacy, it supports and works closely with centres that research issues related to access to finance.

• Product Design

ICICI Bank has combined its expertise in financial engineering with the insights generated by its partners and allied research institutions. ICICI Bank and other ICICI Group companies have designed and are taking to scale a number of products including: (a) index-based rainfall insurance, (b) catastrophic health insurance, (c) working capital facilities for agriculture traders, (d) working capital facilities for artisans, (e) take-out finance for start-up local financial institutions, (f) warehouse receipt based financing, (g) credit to low-income households through the partnership model and (h) savings to low- income households through the banking correspondent model.