ICICI BANK'S MR DEPENDABLE

Sandeep Bakhshi's understated presence but omnipresent empowerment continues to deliver the goods for ICICI Bank.

- V.KESHAVDEV

FOR A BANK that annually spends over `3,200 crore on advertisement and publicity, ICICI Bank’s 64-year-old CEO is conspicuous by his absence in public. Instead, Sandeep Bakhshi, a mechanical engineer by qualification, lets the numbers do the talking. Burying the ghosts of the financial impropriety scandal against Chanda Kochhar that rocked the private lender, Bakhshi has continued to deliver the goods for the bank, leading to his reappointment in 2023 for another three years.

When Bakhshi took the reins as managing director and CEO on October 15, 2018, the bank was at a critical juncture. With his steady hand and strategic vision, Bakhshi navigated the bank through a transformative period, steering it towards robust growth and stability. His tenure has been characterised by enhanced asset quality, strengthened retail loan portfolio, and improved operational efficiencies.

While every financial and efficiency parameter has seen a dramatic turnaround, the metric that truly captures the essence of Bakhshi’s understated leadership is the return on assets (RoA). In FY23, the RoA was 2.37% (standalone), a significant increase from the low of 0.39% in FY19, the fiscal year he took over from Chanda Kochhar. Under her tenure, the ratio had declined from 1.13% in FY10 to 0.87% in FY18. Simply put, a 2% RoA indicates that the bank is managing its risks effectively, balancing asset growth with profitability without taking excessive risks.