Chanda Kochhar-Leading Digitization at ICICI Bank

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EXCERPTS

HOW IT STARTED

In 2013, Kochhar led an organization-wide exercise wherein several critical and eye-opening inputs and suggestions were gathered from employees and third-party service providers on making the bank’s processes simpler and more efficient. This exercise, which was called “Youthization”, was centered on the younger generation and aimed at gaining insights into the real challenges involved in addressing and resolving customer requests . For Kochhar, it was not just a top-down communication, but also a bottom-up approach where all those employees who interacted with the customers contributed ideas toward improving the digital tools and channels. Kochhar was against the practice of an Information Technology team sitting at the headquarters, creating technology without realizing people’s requirements. She encouraged and reinforced the culture of the bank’s senior executives visiting the branches personally to check the critical aspects like network bandwidth, systems, and user experience and ensure that they worked well.

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INNOVATIONS BY LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY

Kochhar’s vision for ICICI was in close alignment with the Government of India’s ‘Digital India’ campaign. In 2014, ICICI emerged as India’s first bank with 100 digital ‘Touch Banking’ branches that were functional 24x7...

DIGITIZING A VILLAGE

In 2015, ICICI took a big leap in its agenda of digital banking. To celebrate the ICICI Group’s 60 years of existence, Kochhar unveiled the ‘ICICI Digital Village’ at Akodara in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat...

ICICI BANK ON SOCIAL PLATFORMS

ICICI’s next priority was to use social platforms. Kochhar observed that youngsters wanted everything instantly and on the go. Hence, the digital strategy of the bank laid emphasis on the social platforms where the youth spent a significant amount of time...

SMART VAULT – THE ROBOTIC LOCKERS

In 2015, ICICI added another weapon to its digital arsenal. This time, it was the application of robotics in banking. ICICI launched India’s first ever locker provision that was powered by robotic technology...

THE ‘APPATHON’ CHALLENGE

In an attempt to give a further thrust to its digitizing initiative, in February 2016, ICICI announced the ‘ICICI Appathon’, a mobile app development challenge...

OTHER INITIATIVES

In 2016, the bank launched a contactless mobile payment solution based on Host Card Emulation technology, which created virtual cards for physical credit or debit cards...

CHALLENGES AHEAD

According to Kochhar, the bank’s emphasis on developing the core operating parameters had helped it curb and absorb higher credit costs.

EXHIBITS

Exhibit I: ICICI Bank- At a Glance

Exhibit II: Digital banking- A Comparison