Axis Bank Ltd is the third largest of the private-sector banks in India offering a comprehensive suite of financial products. The bank has its head office in Mumbai and Registered office in Ahmedabad. It has 3300 branches, 13,003 ATMs, and nine international offices. The bank employs over 50,000 people and had a market capitalization of ₹1.0583 trillion (US$16 billion) (as on March 31, 2016). It offers the entire spectrum of financial services large and mid-size corporates, SME, and retail businesses.
As of 30 Jun. 2016, 30.81% shares are owned by promoters & promoter group (United India Insurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited, National Insurance Company Limited, New India Assurance Company Ltd, GIC, LIC & UTI). Remaining 69.19% shares are owned by Mutual Funds Institutions, FIIs, Financial Institutions (banks), Insurance companies, corporate bodies & individual investors among others.
History
UTI Bank opened its registered office in Ahmedabad and corporate office in Mumbai in December 1993. The first branch was inaugurated on 2 April 1994 in Ahmedabad by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Finance Minister of India. UTI Bank began its operations in 1993, after the Government of India allowed new private banks to be established. The Bank was promoted in 1993 jointly by the Administrator of the Unit Trust of India (UTI-I), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation, National Insurance Company, The New India Assurance Company, The Oriental Insurance Corporation and United India Insurance Company.
In 2001 UTI Bank agreed to merge with and amalgamate Global Trust Bank, but the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withheld approval and nothing came of this. In 2004 the RBI put Global Trust into moratorium and supervised its merger into Oriental Bank of Commerce.
In 2003 Axis Bank became the first Indian bank to launch the travel currency card.
In 2005, Axis Bank got listed on London Stock Exchange.
UTI Bank opened its first overseas branch in 2006 Singapore. That same year it opened a representative office in Shanghai, China. UTI Bank opened a branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre in 2007. That same year it began branch operations in Hong Kong. In 2008 it opened a representative office in Dubai.
Axis Bank opened a branch in Colombo in October 2011, as a Licensed Commercial Bank supervised by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Also in 2011, Axis Bank opened a representative offices in Abu Dhabi. In 2011, Axis bank inaugurated Axis House, its new corporate office in Worli, Mumbai.
In 2013, Axis Bank's subsidiary, Axis Bank UK commenced banking operations. Axis Bank UK has a branch in London.
Deepika Padukone, a Bollywood actress is the brand ambassador of Axis Bank.
In 2015, Axis Bank opens its representative office in Dhaka.
The bank has over 50,000 employees (as of 31 March 2016). The bank incurred ₹26.7 billion (US$410 million) on employee benefits during the FY 2012â€"13. The average age of an Axis Bank employee is 29 years. The attrition rate in Axis Bank is approx. 9% per year.
Operations
Indian Business
As of 12 Aug 2016, the bank had a network of 3,120 branches and extension counters and 12,922 ATMs. Axis Bank has the largest ATM network among private banks in India and it operates an ATM at one of the world’s highest sites at Thegu, Sikkim at a height of 4,023 meters (13,200 ft) above sea level.
International Business
The Bank has nine international offices with branches at Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai (at the DIFC), Shanghai, Colombo and representative offices at Dhaka, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which focus on corporate lending, trade finance, syndication, investment banking and liability businesses. In addition to the above, the Bank has a presence in UK with its wholly owned subsidiary Axis Bank UK Limited.
Services
Retail Banking
In the retail banking category, the bank offers services such as lending to individuals/small businesses subject to the orientation, product and granularity criterion, along with liability products, card services, Internet banking, automated teller machines (ATM) services, depository, financial advisory services, and Non-resident Indian (NRI) services. Axis bank is a participant in RBI's NEFT enabled participating banks list.
Corporate Banking
Credit:The Bank offers various loan and fee-based products and services to Large and Mid-corporate customers and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) businesses. These products and services include cash credit facilities, demand and short-term loans, project finance, export credit, factoring, channel financing, structured products, discounting of bills, documentary credits, guarantees, foreign exchange and derivative products. Liability products including current accounts, certificates and deposits and time deposits are also offered to large and mid-corporate segments.
Transaction Banking:Formed in April 2015, TxB provides integrated products and services to customers in areas of current accounts, cash management services, capital market services, trade, foreign exchange and derivatives, cross-border trade and correspondent banking services and tax collections on behalf of the Government and various State Governments in India.
Treasury:The Treasury manages the funding position of the Bank and also manages and maintains its regulatory reserve requirements. It invests in sovereign and corporate debt instruments and engages in proprietary trading in equity and fixed income securities, foreign exchange, currency futures and options. It also invests in commercial papers, mutual funds and floating rate instruments as part of the management of short-term surplus liquidity. In addition, it also offers a wide range of treasury products and services to corporate customers.
Syndication:The Bank also provides services of placement and syndication in the form of local currency bonds, rupee and foreign term loans and external commercial borrowings.
Investment Banking and Trustee Services:The Bank provides investment banking and trusteeship services through its owned subsidiaries. Axis Capital Limited provides investment banking services relating to equity capital markets, institutional stock broking besides M&A advisory. Axis Trustee Services Limited is engaged in trusteeship activities, acting as debenture trustee and as trustee to various securitization trusts.
International Banking
The Bank continues to offer corporate banking, trade finance, treasury and risk management solutions through the branches at Singapore, Hong Kong, DIFC, Shanghai and Colombo, and also retail liability products from its branches at Hong Kong and Colombo. The representative office at Dhaka was inaugurated during the current financial year.Through the Representative Office at Dhaka.
Following the 2016 Indian Banknote Demonetisation, a number of Axis Bank employees were arrested for facilitating money laundering activities. Some media outlets highlighted the disproportionate amount of cases involving the bank, and claimed that the bank's aggressive performance targets and internal culture fostered such activities and that the blame does not lie solely in the hands of arrested employees.
Operation Red Spider
An Indian online magazine conducted a sting operation which was publicised along with 2013 videos evidence showing a wide range of violations and money-laundering schemes by top officials at a number of Indian banks, including Axis Bank. Consequently, penalty of Rs 5 crore on Axis Bank, Rs 4.5 crore on HDFC Bank and Rs 1 crore on ICICI Bank was imposed by Reserve Bank of India.
Initiatives
Axis Pay
The newly introduced UPI will facilitate banking transactions using only a single 'Virtual Payment Address' (VPA). While transferring money to an account, the sender will not be forced to feed the slew of details like the account number and bank's IFSC Code, but can transact using only the VPA.
Ping Pay
The bank launched Ping Pay in 2015, which is a multi-social payment solution that allows customers to transfer funds using their smart phones to both Axis Bank accounts and other banks' account holders.
Augmented reality
Axis Bank augmented reality feature within its mobile app which lists all the dining destinations, property lists, shopping centers, bank ATMs, branches and many other things not only as a location on GPS but also in real life pictures along with distance and directions.
Axis Thought Factory
The innovation hub located in Bengaluru, has an in-house innovation team and an accelerator programme. The Innovation Lab work closely with the startup community that is redefining banking in the digital era. With this launch, Axis Bank becomes the first Indian bank to introduce a dedicated innovation lab in the country.
Insta Personal Loan
Axis Bank provide a ‘24X7 Instant Personal Loan’ on smartphones and ATM kiosks. Customers can get instant loan approval and disbursement, which gets credited directly into their account.
Locker booking
The bank has launched an online locker booking facility through the mobile app to allow customers to check availability from their homes and book instantly.
Microfinance Institutions (MFI) Lending
A new tablet-based loan origination system developed to digitize the entire lending process of MFI business. This will replace the existing paper based loan sanctioning process.
Multicurrency Forex cards
Axis Bank offer contactless multicurrency Forex cards to Indian travelers enabling faster and more convenient transactions while abroad. The same technology has also been extended to the Bank’s Debit and Credit card platforms. The bank has set up an in-house payment gateway that allows for secure e-commerce transaction processing capability and reduces the cost incurred on using external gateways.
Asha home loans
Asha home loans, our home loan product, caters to the first time home buyers in the lower income segment, and helps them by providing affordable EMI options. The product offers loans from ₹100,000 (US$1,600)â€"₹1.5 million (US$23,000) in small towns (population less than 1 million) and up to ₹2.5 million (US$39,000) in larger towns (population over 1 million), to customers with family incomes of ₹8,000 (US$120)â€"₹10,000 (US$160) per month and above.
ISIC Forex card
ISIC Forex card for students is the first photo travel currency card available in USD, EUR, GBP and AUD currencies. It can be used across 34 million merchant locations and at over 2 million MasterCard ATMs globally.
eKYC
eKYC is an online, paperless Aadhaar card-based process for fulfilling KYC requirements to start investing in mutual funds without submission of any documents. SEBI has recently allowed Aadhaar-based KYC to be used for MF investments, for the convenience of investors.
The first step in starting your investment in mutual fund is KYC compliance. KYC verification enables you to open new accounts with all SEBI-registered intermediaries such as mutual funds, stock brokers, portfolio managers, depository participants, venture capital funds and Collective Investment Schemes eliminating the need to repeat standard KYC. The normal KYC process requires submission of KYC form along with investor signature and additional documents for ID and address proof. In-person verification (IPV) and sighting the original documents needs to be completed by a competent person. eKYC completely eliminates paperwork and IPV to complete the KYC process.
Axis Bank has partnered with Visa to launch 'eKYC' (electronic know your customer) facility, first organisation in India to introduce biometrics-based KYC, offering convenience, speed and ease to Aadhaar-registered individuals to open bank accounts.
Subsidiaries
The Bank has ten wholly owned subsidiaries:
- Axis Capital Ltd.
- Axis Private Equity Ltd.
- Axis Trustee Services Ltd.
- Axis Asset Management Company Ltd.
- Axis Mutual Fund Trustee Ltd.
- Axis Bank UK Ltd.
- Axis Securities Ltd.
- AxisDirect
- Axis Finance Ltd.
- Axis Securities Europe Ltd.
- A.Treds Limited
Awards and recognitions
2010
- Best Debt House in India - Euromoney
- Best Domestic Debt House in India - Asiamoney
- Overall Winner & Consistent Performer -(Large Banks Category) - Business Today Best Bank Awards 2010
2011
- Bank of the Year â€" India â€"The Banker Awards 2011
2012
- Bank of the Year - Money Today FPCIL Awards 2012-13
- Best Private Sector Bank - CNBC-TV18 India’s Best Bank and Financial Institution Awards 2012
- Consistent Performer - India’s Best Banks â€" 2012 Survey by Business Today & KPMG
- Gold Shield for Excellence in Financial Reporting in the Private Banks category - 2011-12 - ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India)
2013
- Axis Bank ranked No 1 company to work for in the BFSI sector - 'The Best Companies to Work for' survey by Business Today.
- Ranked No 1 in the IT Biz Award - large enterprises category by Express IT Awards
- Innovation for 2013 for Ladies First card under ‘the Most Innovative Broad Based Product Offering’ category- IBA Innovations Award.
2014
- Axis Bank Foundation conferred Outstanding Corporate Foundation at Forbes India, Philanthropy Awards, 2014
- Best Domestic Bank in India- Asiamoney Best Banks 2014
- Best Bank Award among Large Banks for IT For Business Innovation- IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards 2014
- Axis Bank featured for the fourth time in Asia's Fab50 companies for 2014 by Forbes Asia
- Best Bank for Rural Reach in the Private Sector and Best Retail Growth Performance in the Private Sector category- Dun & Bradstreet-Polaris Financial Technology Banking Awards 2014
2015
- Axis Bank has been adjudged winner in the Best Bank Category, Outlook Money Awards 2015
- Axis Bank awarded for the Best Security among Private Sector Banks in India by Data Security Council of India (DSCI).
- Axis Bank conferred the Certificate of Recognition for excellence in Corporate Governance by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), for the year 2015.
- Best Domestic Bank in India- Asiamoney Best Banks 2015
- Axis Bank's Mobile App tops Forrester Research's review of Smartphone Mobile Banking Apps in India.
- Axis Bank was selected as the Best Private Sector Bank under the category Rural Reach at the Dun & Bradstreet Banking Awards 2015
- Axis Bank has been conferred with IDRBT Best Bank Award for Digital Banking, Analytics & Big Data among large banks.
- Axis Bank has been featured in Limca Book of Records 2015 for creating a National Record for its campaign - 'Plant a Sapling'
- Axis bank has been awarded the title of Superbrand 2014-2015, by Superbrands
- No. 1 Promising Banking Brand of 2015, Economic Times Awards 2015
- Winner in the 'Best Payment Initiatives' category amongst Private Sector Banks, IBA Banking Technology Awards 2015
Axis Banks's equity shares are listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. The company's global depository receipts (GDRs) are listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Bonds issued by the Bank under the MTN programme are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
References
External links
- Official website