Leadership Development and Succession Planning at ICICI Bank

On 19 December 2008, ICICI bank named joint managing director Chanda Kochhar as its new CEO from May 2009 to lead India's second-largest lender at a time of declining market share, soaring bad debts and a tough global environment. She would be the successor of the 61-year-old visionary banker K. V. Kamath, MD and CEO of ICICI Bank who was to retire on 30 April 2009 after completing his successful tenure of 11 years. ICICI bank with a network of 1,456 branches and 4,721 ATMs in India and presence in 18 countries, is India's second-largest bank with total assets of Rs. 3,793.01 billion (US$75 billion) and profit after tax of Rs. 37.58 billion for the year ending March 31, 2009. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers. The need for succession planning arose at ICICI as the term of one top level executive ended, one other retired and two left the company. This case has been developed to provide understanding on how leaders are identified, nurtured and developed at ICICI bank, the strengths and weaknesses of CEO centric model of leadership development being followed by Kamath and the new institutionalized process of leadership development. It also provides the scope for discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of hiring an insider or outsider for the position of a CEO and the role of outgoing CEO in the development and selection of his/her successor.