ICICI Bank is confident of achieving new milestones in its environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) journey, chairman Girish Chandra Chaturvedi said in the bank’s ESG report on Friday.
“Our social agenda is an integral driver of our ESG journey and we further expanded our social outreach during fiscal 2023,” the report said.
The bank aims to create an impact on society and environment through subsidiary ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation).
Through Foundation, the bank extends support to the government and charitable institutions by providing ambulances, blood donation, blood transport vehicles, dialysis machines, and other health equipments.
The latest report comes after the bank announced that it will donate Rs 1,200 crore towards Tata Memorial Centre, an institution that runs cancer treatment and research centres across India.
This is the largest contribution to the Tata Memorial Centre from any institution, and the initiative will likely be completed by 2027.
In 2022-23(April-March), the bank has allocated around Rs 463 crore in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.
Apart from this, the bank is focused on promoting rural and inclusive banking by providing working capital loans for growing crops and financing of post-harvest activities, financing against warehouse receipts, term loans for farm equipment, and personal loans among others.
It has identified four main ecosystems in the rural market, namely: farmers, dealers, self-employed people and micro-entrepreneurs with comprehensive banking solutions.
In 2022-23, the bank has funded 338,520 self-help groups (SHGs), and around 51% of its business centres were set up in rural and semi-urban areas. First time borrowers during the financial year were 92,395.
