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ICICI Limited

ICICI announces General Insurance Foray with Lombard of Canada

ICICI Ltd. (NYSE: IC), one of India's largest financial services provider,
announced that it has entered into a joint venture with Lombard, one of the
oldest property and casualty insurance companies in Canada, to launch general
insurance business in India. The agreement was signed today between Mrs. Lalita
D. Gupte, Joint Managing Director & COO, ICICI and Mr. Prem Watsa, Chairman and
CEO, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited - the parent company of Lombard.

As per the terms of the agreement, ICICI would hold 74% of the equity of the
newly formed company, while the JV partner would hold the balance 26%. Mr.
Sanjiv Kerkar, Senior General Manager, ICICI, will head the JV Company. The JV
will offer both commercial and personal lines of general insurance products to
corporate and retail customers.

The recent opening of the Indian insurance sector has provided ICICI an
opportunity to increase its product suite in line with its strategy to be a
universal bank. ICICI's quest for a joint venture partner was based on the
premise that complimentarity of skills was necessary for an enduring and
successful business relationship in the general insurance area. Given ICICI's
strong corporate relationships, increasing retail customer base and a
technology enabled multi-channel distribution network, it was looking for a
partner which offered relevant domain knowledge, a culture oriented towards
quick decision making and business processes based on high technology. After a
careful assessment of the global arena, ICICI opted for Lombard which provided
the optimal fit on the above criteria. Lombard Canada, using high technology
for competitive advantage, offers the full range of commercial and personal
insurance products - the focus areas for the ICICI-Lombard JV. It enjoys
leadership position in several product segments.

The JV partners believe that they would be able to create an innovative and
service oriented organisation that would use technology to deliver cost
effective and high quality products and services to customers.

About ICICI

ICICI Limited, one of India's largest financial services provider was formed in
1955 at the initiative of the World Bank, the Government of India and
representatives of Indian industry, with the objective of creating a
development financial institution. Over the last four decades, ICICI has
stretched the borders of its business to evolve from a traditional project
finance institution to a diversified financial services group providing a broad
spectrum of financial solutions to corporate and retail customers. ICICI today
operates as a virtual universal bank with a network of 27 subsidiaries. At
year-end fiscal 2000, ICICI had assets of about Rs. 650 billion (Rs. 781
billion as per US GAAP) and stockholders equity of Rs. 93.3 billion (Rs. 70.8
billion as per US GAAP). The net profit for fiscal 2000 was Rs. 12.06 billion
(Rs. 9.33 billion as per US GAAP).

About Lombard

Lombard Canada, in existence since 1804, offers the full range of commercial
and personal insurance products to the Canadian property and casualty
marketplace. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Lombard Canada acts as the
holding company for Lombard's operations which are run by its specialist
companies. With direct written premiums exceeding C$500 million and assets over
C$1 billion, Lombard Canada is placed among the top insurance companies in
Canada. Lombard Canada is a principal subsidiary of the Group comprising more
than 20 specialist insurance, reinsurance and insurance claims servicing
companies. The combined asset size of the Group stood at $21.47 billion at the
end of financial year 1999.





Lombard relies heavily on technology to offer cost-effective solutions to
customers in an industry where margins are razor thin. The company has
introduced specialised software and technology for efficient execution of its
businesses. This includes point of sale software which allow efficient
underwriting of policies to specific segments such as the auto and homeowners
segments, small and large businesses etc. Lombard currently employs about 700
personnel across Canada assisted by a dedicated network of 300 independent
brokers.

Except for the historical information contained herein, statements in this
release which contain words or phrases such as "will", "would", "aim", "will
likely result", "believe", "expect", "will continue", "anticipate", "estimate",
"intend", "plan", "contemplate", "seek to", "future", "objective", "goal",
"project", "should", "will pursue" and similar expressions or variations of
such expressions may constitute "forward-looking statements". These
forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals
for general insurance business, our ability to successfully implement the said
joint venture, our strategy, future levels of non-performing loans, our growth
and expansion, the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses, technological
changes, investment income, cash flow projections, our exposure to market risks
as well as other risks detailed in the reports filed by ICICI Limited with the
Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States. ICICI undertakes no
obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date thereof.

October 4, 2000

For further investor queries:

Contact: Madhvendra Das at +9122-653 6812 or email: das@icici.com.
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