ICICI Bank opens phone banking centre in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday inaugurated the ICICI Bank's state-of-the-art phone banking centre here.

The centre will provide direct employment to 1,200 individuals, most of them are from the state and 60 per cent of workforce are women.

Inaugurating the centre in presence of ICICI Bank's Executive Director Sandeep Batra, the Chief Minister said: "I am pleased to inaugurate the bank's modern phone banking centre in Bhubaneswar which is enabled with latest technology of artificial intelligence and robotics."

Apart from serving customers in Odisha through its wide network of branches and ATMs, internet banking and mobile app, Patnaik said the bank is a large employer in the state. Stating that digitisation has been playing a key role in transforming Odisha, ICICI Bank's ED said it is the first among Indian states to provide many digital services in the fields of education, telecom, land record and disaster management, among others. The State has made hundreds of services online, offering unparalleled convenience to its citizens and enabling their progress and growth.

"At ICICI Bank, we do have the same philosophy of leveraging technology to provide enhanced convenience to our customers," Batra said.

He also said that the phone banking centre is well equipped to service customers not only in the state but also across the country. He said the 1200 employed persons are trained and upskilled to serve the customers of the bank across the country and cater to their specific banking requirements. The ICICI Bank has a wide network of 168 branches and 271 ATMs, call centre, internet banking and mobile application in the state. The bank offers a comprehensive range of accounts including savings and current accounts, deposits such as fixed deposits, Batra said.

In a statement, it said the initiatives undertaken by ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth, the CSR arm of ICICI Group, has provided sustainable livelihood to over 6,000 underprivileged people in rural areas while ICICI Foundation through its ICICI Academy for Skills has imparted free-of-cost vocational training to over 3,000 underprivileged youth of Odisha and helped them to get jobs or set up their own ventures. The bank has lent loans to over 4,500 SHGs benefitting more than 50,000 women.