Sandeep Bakhshi stays! ICICI Bank extends CEO tenure amid profit dip

The re-appointment is subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India, shareholders, and such other approvals as may be required.

Bakhshi took over as MD & CEO in October 2018 and has been credited with steering the country’s second-largest private sector lender through a period marked by tighter risk controls, improved asset quality and steady growth across retail and corporate banking.

Prior to his appointment as MD & CEO, he was a Whole-time Director and the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the bank.

Bakhshi has been with the ICICI Group since 1986 and has handled various assignments across the group in ICICI Limited, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, ICICI Bank, and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

ICICI Bank also reported its third-quarter earnings on Saturday.

The net profit for the quarter fell 4% to ₹11,318 crore from last year's ₹11,792 crore, while the Net interest income rose 7.7% year-on-year to Rs 21,932 crore in the December quarter, up from Rs 20,371 crore a year earlier.

The bank's profitability was impacted due to this increased provision. Its provisions were at ₹2,556 crore compared to ₹1,227 crore in the year-ago period.

The lender said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed it to make a standard asset provision of ₹1,283 crore in respect of a portfolio of agricultural priority sector credit facilities, wherein the terms of the facilities were found to be not fully compliant with the regulatory requirements for classification as agricultural priority sector lending.