ICICI Bank to up unsecured lending,says exec director

ICICI Bank will increase its portfolio of unsecured lending,including personal loans and credit cards,with a cautious approach,Rajiv Sabhrawal,the executive director of ICICI Bank said.

Unsecured loans are usually not backed by any collateral and,hence,considered more risky compared with mortgage loans. On the sidelines of launch of mobile money transfer and payment M-Pesa,Sabharwal told reporters the bank started shrinking share of unsecured lending portfolio since 2008,when the global economic crisis surfaced out.

The number of credit cards issued by the bank,stood at 3.19 million (31.90 lakh) in June 2011 but it came down to 2.86 million (28.60 lakh) in January 2012 and 2.84 million (28.40 lakh) in January 2013,according to Reserve Bank of India data.

But ICICI was not absolutely averse to increasing the unsecured lending portfolio since the credit bureau reports assured that such lending was not unsecure. We will increase that (unsecured lending) business but we will focus largely on existing customers, Sabharwal said adding that the number of outstanding cards have,however,been on the rise with 2.82 million (28.20 lakh) in December compared to 2.77 million (27.70 lakh) in November 2012. The bank plans to add new cards and grow its business further.

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