Axis Bank Limited, formerly known as UTI Bank (1993–2007), is an Indian

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and

financial services Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companie ...

company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It sells financial services to large and mid-size companies, SMEs and retail businesses. As of 30 June 2016, 30.81% shares are owned by the promoters and the promoter group ( United India Insurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited, National Insurance Company Limited, New India Assurance Company Ltd,

GIC Gic is a village in Veszprém County, Hungary. External links Street map (Hungarian) Populated places in Veszprém County Ghyczy family {{Veszprem-geo-stub ...

, LIC and

UTI A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection that affects part of the urinary tract. When it affects the lower urinary tract it is known as a bladder infection (cystitis) and when it affects the upper urinary tract it is known as a kidne ...

). The remaining 69.19% shares are owned by mutual funds, FIIs, banks, insurance companies, corporate bodies and individual investors.

History

The bank was founded on 3 December 1993 as UTI Bank, opening its registered office in Ahmedabad and a corporate office in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

. The bank was promoted jointly by the Administrator of the Unit Trust of India (UTI), 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. The first branch was inaugurated on 2 April 1994 in Ahmedabad by

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indi ...

, then finance minister of India. In 2001 UTI Bank agreed to merge with Global Trust Bank, but the

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible f ...

(RBI) withheld approval and the merger did not take place. In 2004, the RBI put Global Trust under moratorium and supervised its merger with Oriental Bank of Commerce. The following year, UTI bank was listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pa ...

. In the year 2006, UTI Bank opened its first overseas branch in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. The same year it opened an office in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China. In 2007, it opened a branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre and branches in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. On 30 July 2007, UTI Bank changed its name to Axis Bank. In 2009, Shikha Sharma was appointed as the MD and CEO of Axis Bank. In 2013, Axis Bank's subsidiary, Axis Bank UK commenced banking operations. On 1 January 2019, Amitabh Chaudhry took over as MD and CEO. In year 2021,the Bank had reduced its stake in Yes Bank from 2.39 per cent to 1.96 per cent.

Operations

Indian Business

As of 12 August 2016, the bank had a network of 4,096 branches and extension counters and 12,922 ATMs. Axis Bank has the largest ATM network among private banks in India. It even operates an ATM at one of the world's highest sites at Thegu,

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligu ...

at a height of 4,023 meters (13,200 ft) above sea level.

International business

The bank has nine international offices with branches at

, Hong Kong, Dubai (at the DIFC), Shanghai, Colombo and representative offices at Dhaka, Dubai, Sharjah 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

The bank offers lending services to individuals and small businesses, along with liability products, card services, Internet banking,

automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, f ...

s (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

Transaction banking: Axis Bank provides products and services related to transaction banking 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. 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 brokering besides M&A advisory. Axis Trustee Services Limited is engaged in trusteeship activities, acting as a debenture trustee and as a trustee to various

securitization Securitization is the financial practice of pooling various types of contractual debt such as residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, auto loans or credit card debt obligations (or other non-debt assets which generate receivables) and selling ...

trusts.

International banking

The bank offers corporate banking, trade finance, treasury and risk management through the branches at Singapore, Hong Kong, DIFC, Shanghai and Colombo, and also retail liability products from its branches at

and

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

. The representative office at

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

was inaugurated during the current financial year.

Listing and shareholding

Axis Banks's equity shares are listed on the

Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange. It is located on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Established in 1875 by cotton merchant Premchand Roychand, a Jain businessman, it is the oldest stock exchange i ...

(BSE) and National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). The company's global depository receipts (GDRs) are listed on the

. The Bonds issued by the bank under the MTN program are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Issues and concerns

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, penalties of on Axis Bank, on HDFC Bank, and on ICICI Bank were imposed by the

2016 Demonetisation related money laundering

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 number 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.

Initiatives

Axis Thought Factory

An innovation hub located in

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

has an in-house innovation team and an accelerator program. With this launch, Axis Bank became the first Indian bank to introduce a dedicated innovation lab in the country.

Asha home loans

Asha home loans targets first-time home buyers in the lower-income segment. The product offers loans from – in small towns (population less than 1 million) and up to in larger towns (population over 1 million), to customers with family incomes of – per month and above.

eKYC

eKYC (electronic know your customer) is an online, paperless Aadhaar card-based process for fulfilling KYC requirements to start investing in mutual funds without the submission of any documents. Axis Bank partnered with Visa Inc. to launch the 'eKYC' facility, and was the first organization in India to introduce

biometrics Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify ...

-based KYC.

Subsidiaries

Axis Capital Ltd.

Axis Capital Ltd. was incorporated in India as a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank on 6 December 2005 and received its certificate of commencement of business on 2 May 2006. Certain businesses of M/s. Enam Securities Pvt. Ltd. were merged with Axis Capital Ltd. as part of a scheme and the following companies became direct subsidiaries of Axis Capital: # Axis Securities Ltd. (formerly Enam Securities Direct Pvt. Ltd.) # Axis Finance Ltd. (formerly Enam Finance Pvt. Ltd.) # Axis Securities Europe Ltd. (formerly Enam Securities Europe Ltd.) # Enam International Ltd., UAE (voluntarily dissolved with effect from 24 August 2014) Axis Securities Ltd., Axis Finance Ltd. and Axis Securities Europe Ltd. later became direct subsidiaries of the bank in line with the RBI directives.

Axis Securities Ltd.

Axis Securities Ltd.was incorporated in India on 21 July 2006. The sales and securities business, including the retail broking business of Axis Capital Ltd, was merged with ASL on 25 May 2013. ASL is a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank and offers retail asset products, credit cards and retail brokerage services.

Axis Private Equity Ltd.

Axis Private Equity Ltd. was incorporated in India as a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank on 3 October 2006 and received its certificate of commencement on 4 December 2006. APE manages investments, venture capital funds and offshore funds.

Axis Mutual Fund

Axis Mutual Fund is a subsidiary of Axis Bank established in 2009 with in headquarters in

Acquisitions

Axis Bank acquired Freecharge, a digital marketplace for financial services in 2017 for approximately ₹385 crore.

Awards

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 – India – 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

2013

* Ranked No 1 in the IT Biz Award – large enterprises category by Express IT Awards * Joint winner under the ‘Most Innovative Broad Based Product Offering’ category - IBA Innovations Award.

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 * Best Bank for Rural Reach in the Private Sector and Best Retail Growth Performance in the Private Sector category –

Dun & Bradstreet The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is an American company that provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financia ...

- 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). * Best Domestic Bank in India – Asiamoney Best Banks 2015 * Axis Bank has been featured in Limca Book of Records 2015 for creating a National Record for its campaign – 'Plant a Sapling' * No. 1 Promising Banking Brand of 2015, Economic Times Awards 2015

References

External links

* * Business data for Axis Bank
ReutersGoogle FinanceBloombergQuint
{{Authority control Banks based in Mumbai Indian brands Indian companies established in 1993 Banks established in 1993 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange NIFTY 50 BSE SENSEX Axis Bank 1993 establishments in Maharashtra Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange