ICICI Bank launches software robotics to drive banking operations

ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector lender, on Thursday announced the deployment of software robotics for business processes across various functions of the bank.

Following the news, the ICICI bank stock closed at Rs. 276.35 on Thursday, down 0.65 percent from its previous close on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The software robots reduced the response time to customers by up to 60 percent and increased accuracy to 100 percent, thereby sharply improving the bank's productivity and efficiency, the bank said in a statement. The software robots now perform over 10 lakh banking transactions every working day.

The bank deployed these software robots in over 200 business process functions across the organisation, including retail banking operations, agri-business, trade and forex, treasury and human resources management, among others.

"This announcement comes as a milestone in terms of technology in the banking industry. ICICI bank has always been pioneers in innovation in the banking industry. The software robots bring in unparallelled operational efficiency, higher accuracy and massive reduction in processing time for customer services. With our retail banking growing at over 25 percent every year, we will be ready to handle larger volumes with the same resources," ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar said in the statement.

By the end of the financial year, the bank is planning to more than double the software robots to over 500.

ICICI Bank has 4,451 branches, 14,073 ATMs and call centres. It also provides internet banking and mobile banking services.

ICICI Bank reported a 25 percent fall in its net profit for the June quarter on Friday. From Rs. 2,976 crore seen last year, the bank's net profit fell to Rs. 2,232 crore. The bank's net interest income grew marginally by 0.85 percent to Rs. 5,159 crore during the period.