American technology giant Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook met ICICI Bank’s top brass at the country’s largest private sector lender’s corporate headquarters.
Cook, whose every meeting is being closely watched for cues about Apple’s business plans in India, walked into the ICICI Bank Towers in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district and spent over an hour, sources said.
He met the bank’s managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar and executive directors at a closed-door meeting, they said but refused to divulge what was discussed.
ICICI Bank was among the first to introduce a banking application on the Apple Watch, even before the gadget got launched in the country.
Over the past few years, it has also introduced a slew of other initiatives on the digital front, including a digital wallet, just like the ‘Apple Pay’ by the tech giant.
Cook’s meetings during the four-day maiden visit to Indiaare mostly with top leaders of Indian business houses that offer some opportunity for Apple’s businesses.
Early today, Cook met Anant Ambani, son of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries group that is on the cusp of hitting the market with a high-speed 4G telecom network. Cook also met also Sunil Sood, who heads the country’s second largest telco Vodafone India. Reports suggested he would also interact with the country’s largest mobile operator Airtel’s top-brass later.
The visit to ICICI Bank comes at a time when there is a huge speculation over how digital and telecom solutions are slated to dominate banking in the future, with experts saying that technology will change the face of a bank.