Axis Bank Ltd Management Discussions

1 includes Priority Sector Lending deposits of Rs14,450 crores (previous year Rs21,557 crores)

Total assets increased by 9% to Rs1,609,930 crores as on 31 March, 2025 from Rs1,477,209 crores as on 31 March, 2024, driven by 8% growth in advances and 19% growth in investments.

Advances

Total advances of the Bank as on 31 March, 2025 increased by 8% to Rs1,040,811 crores from Rs965,068 crores as on 31 March, 2024. Retail advances comprised 60% of total advances and grew by 7% to Rs622,897 crores, corporate advances comprised 29% of total advances and grew by 8% to Rs299,393 crores and SME advances constituted 11% of total advances and grew by 14% to Rs118,521 crores. Domestic advances of the Bank as on 31 March, 2025 grew by 8% to Rs1,011,101, crores from Rs936,465 crores as on 31 March, 2024. Further, domestic corporate advances of the Bank as on 31 March, 2025 increased by 8% to Rs271,471 crores from Rs251,331 crores as on 31 March, 2024.

Home loans remain the largest retail segment and accounted for 27% of retail loans, rural lending (Bharat Banking) 16%, loans against property (LAP) 12%, personal loans (PL) and credit cards (CC) were 19%, auto loans 9% and Small Banking Business (SBB) were 11%, while non-schematic loans comprising loan against deposits and other loans accounted for 6%.

Investments

The investment portfolio of the Bank grew by 19% to Rs396,142 crores. Investments in Government and approved securities, increased by 24% to Rs308,076 crores. Other investments, including corporate debt securities, increased by 5% to Rs88,066 crores. Out of these, 66% are in Held to Maturity (HTM) category, investments in Subsidiaries and Associate.

Other Assets

Other assets of the Bank as on 31 March, 2025 increased to Rs66,953 crores from Rs60,474 crores as on 31 March, 2024, primarily on account of increase in Mark-to-Market (MTM) asset on forex and derivative contracts amounting to Rs20,496 crores as on 31 March, 2025 as compared to Rs12,430 crores as on 31 March, 2024 which was partially offset by decrease in Priority Sector Shortfall deposits from Rs21,557 crores as on 31 March, 2024 to Rs14,450 crores on 31 March, 2025.

(Rs in crores)

Shareholders funds

Shareholders funds of the Bank increased from Rs150,235 crores as on 31 March, 2024 to Rs178,617 crores as on 31 March,

2025. This is mainly on account of profits earned during the year.

Deposits

The total deposits of the Bank increased by 10% to Rs1,172,952 crores against Rs1,068,641 crores last year. Savings Bank deposits reported a growth of 3% to Rs311,389 crores, while Current Account deposits reported increase of 6% to Rs166,799 crores. As on 31 March, 2025, low-cost CASA deposits stood at Rs478,188 crores, and constituted 41% of total deposits. On a daily average basis, Savings Bank deposits, increased by 1% to Rs285,104 crores, while Current Account deposits grew by 9% to Rs128,315 crores. The percentage share of CASA in total deposits, on a daily average basis, was at 39.26% compared to 42.54% last year.

Borrowings

The total borrowings of the Bank declined by 6% from Rs196,812 crores in fiscal 2024 to Rs184,147 crores in fiscal 2025. The Bank has issued debt instrument amounting to Rs3,925 crores in the form of “long term bonds against Infrastructure and affordable housing” (Infrastructure bonds) in India. Further, Subordinated Debt amounting to Rs850 crores and Infrastructure Bonds amounting to Rs5,705 crores got matured during the year.

Other Liabilities and provisions

Other liabilities of the Bank increased by 20% over the year to Rs73,106 crores as on 31 March, 2025 from Rs60,694 crores as on 31 March, 2024, which is mainly on account of increase in Mark-to-Market (MTM) liability on forex and derivative contracts to Rs19,929 crores as compared to Rs12,806 crores last year.

(Rs in crores)

The Bank continues its endeavour for greater capital efficiency and shoring up its capital adequacy to enhance shareholder value. The Banks overall capital adequacy ratio (CAR) under Basel III stood at 17.07% at the end of the year, well above the benchmark requirement of 11.50% stipulated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Of this, the Common Equity Tier I (CET I) CAR was 14.67% (against minimum regulatory requirement of 8.00%) and Tier I CAR was 15.07% (against minimum regulatory requirement of 9.50%). As on 31 March, 2025, the Banks Tier II CAR under Basel III stood at 2%.

The organic business of the Bank accreted 93 bps (net) of CET I in fiscal 2025.

The Banks Risk Weighted Assets (RWA) to Asset ratio as at the end of fiscal 2025 was 72%. The Banks capital position continues to be strong and is sufficiently robust for it to pursue growth opportunities with adequate liquidity buffers. The following table sets forth the capital, risk-weighted assets and capital adequacy ratios computed as on 31 March, 2025 and 31 March, 2024 in accordance with the applicable RBI guidelines under Basel III.

(Rs in crores)

In 2019, we launched our ‘Growth Profitability and Sustainability strategy, also known as the ‘House of GPS. Over the years, as part of annual reviews of the House of GPS, we have added areas of distinctiveness, key themes for the Bank to focus on and other changes to reflect the priorities of the Bank and accounting for the changing environment. The House of GPS, as it stands today, continues to reflect our aspirations and remain relevant. Our overall strategy, and specific business and function strategies, are aligned with our core philosophy of GPS ·

• Growth: Accelerate deposits growth, focus on profitable advances, achievement of leadership positions across our focus areas, drive One Axis-led growth across the Group and scale-up of subsidiaries and Axis Digital Bank

• Profitability: Focus on profitability and NIM, growth in fee income, improve operating efficiency, optimise costs, strengthen collections infrastructure and maintain control over credit cost

• Sustainability: Strengthen governance across the Group with an integrated assurance approach to enhance risk management, robust audit and compliance culture, retain high-quality talent, strengthen underwriting, technology and analytical capabilities and a robust operations platform As part of the GPS initiatives, under the ‘One Axis vision, we are focused on creating a ‘one-stop solution for banking needs by integrating the strengths of the subsidiaries with the Bank.

We have several noteworthy achievements in fiscal 2025. Our best-in-class mobile banking application, digital/analytical capabilities, and emerging technology, such as generative AI, gives us the right to win in digital banking. The Bank focuses on reimagining end-to-end journeys, transforming the core and becoming a partner of choice for ecosystems. We successfully completed integrating Citis consumer business in July 2024. While the macro-economic environment continues to evolve amidst geo-political uncertainties, India remains a bright economic spot, giving us an incredible opportunity to tap into the growing capex/infrastructure/investment boom. We have a self-sustaining capital structure with our CET-1 accretion adequate to fund organic growth. Our transformation projects have enabled us to reach closer to our GPS ambitions · ‘Neo for Business (offers end-to-end digital journeys with DIY onboarding, for banking as well as beyond-banking needs of MSMEs), ‘Siddhi (a super app that empowers our colleagues to engage seamlessly with customers), granularisation and premiumisation of liability franchise, focus on cost optimisation, drive collections transformation and set up next generation collections architecture for the Bank. We have also started yielding visible results due to our investments in long-term ‘distinctiveness drivers · ‘Digital 2.0 (becoming Indias Best Tech Bank), Bharat Banking (tapping the high growth potential in rural and semi-urban markets), ‘Sparsh (customer obsession program to aid improvement in NPS rankings).

We remain committed to our GPS strategy of working towards Growth, Profitability and Sustainability over the medium-term and aim to become a resilient, all-weather franchise.

The Bank has over the last decade built a strong Retail Banking franchise that continues to be a key driver of the Banks overall growth strategy. The Banks focused customer-centric approach, strong and differentiated product offerings, along with its wide distribution network remain the core pillars through which it continues to serve the financial needs and aspirations of its customers.

The Retail business segment provides a complete bouquet of products across deposits, transaction services, wealth management and lending products for retail customers, small businesses, NRIs (non-resident Indians) and retail institutions, backed by innovative, digital-first solutions.

The Bank offers a wide range of retail liability products, including savings accounts, current accounts, fixed deposits, recurring deposits, and other customized deposit options, catering to the diverse needs of customers. Retail lending products include home loans, loans against property, automobile loans, two-wheeler loans, commercial vehicle loans, personal loans, gold loans, education loans, credit cards, small business banking loans and agriculture loans among others.

The Banks Retail Banking business unit also offers other products and services such as debit and credit cards, forex cards, bill payment services and wealth management services. The Bank also distributes third party products such as mutual funds, life and non-life insurance policies, Government bonds, etc.

The Banks strategy in Retail has been to gain a larger share of the wallet of existing customers, acquire quality new customers, and deliver a best-in-class experience, thus building customer loyalty. In line with its customer centric approach, the Bank continued its strong focus on holistic customer lifecycle management, led by its strong data analytics and technology, to engage in meaningful conversations and provide the right product proposition. The Bank has made strong progress in digitization of sales, service, and branch operations to offer seamless and intelligent banking experience to its customers. The Bank believes that it is well-positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities in the Indian retail financial services market, led by its strong liability franchise, well diversified products portfolio and robust data analytics and technological capabilities. During the fiscal year 2025, the Retail segment contributed 73% to the Banks deposits in the form of CASA and Retail Term Deposits; 60% to the Banks advances and 72% to the Banks fee income.

Retail Deposits

The Bank has made significant progress in key areas, particularly in acquiring savings accounts (SA). The acquisition channels have become more self-sufficient, resulting in a 13% Y-o-Y growth in Retail SA. By strategically increasing the average ticket size in metro and urban markets, there was a 17% Y-o-Y increase in the average ticket size. Additionally, efforts to attract premium customers led to a 140 basis points rise in the share of premium customers. New-to-bank (NTB) salary uploads improved by 18% Y-o-Y.

Operational improvements also contributed significantly to growth. Over 50 process enhancements reduced the account opening turnaround time from 7 days to 3 days, improving onboarding efficiency. The increased use of the “Siddhi” App, seamless cross-sell journeys, and smart nudges enhanced the overall ease of doing business for both customers and employees. Furthermore, the introduction of an effort-based credit architecture for term deposit led to a 41% increase in inflows for March, 2025.

The focus on premiumization of deposits will continue by increasing the share of premium accounts in overall acquisitions, targeting high-value customers. As part of our long-term growth strategy, we have shifted towards premiumization in mass market variants, focusing on high-value customer segments while reducing reliance on lower-variant offerings in metro and urban branches. This strategy aligns with market dynamics and our commitment to enhancing profitability and brand positioning. We aim to further strengthen our premium product portfolio, leverage technology, and enhance customer experiences. This strategic focus will drive sustainable long-term growth and establish leadership in the premium banking segment. We have also streamlined processes by reducing friction points, enhancing digital journeys, and empowering service channels like phone banking, leading to fewer complaints and improved Net Promoter Scores (NPS). The Bank maintained a steady share of CASA deposits at 41% of total deposits at the end of fiscal 2025.

The Corporate Salary Suvidha proposition has been further explored to make better inroads into corporate clients. Key requirements for corporates wanting to disburse reimbursements to their employees were activated both physically and digitallythroughEmployeeReimbursementAccounts,ensuringeasyandquickconversionscomparedtopaper-basedaccounts. Worksites in corporates were transformed and innovated beyond the traditional helpdesk approach. We added brand partnerships with the largest electric two-wheeler companies, multinational electronics, and consumer durable companies for deeper employee engagement at worksites and induction programs.

We also launched a Special Suvidha Masterclass series with curated topics such as digital fraud prevention, tax filing, succession planning, financial and estate planning, and will writing through virtual sessions for employees in top corporates.

The Bank continues to focus on fraud prevention and regulatory features, strengthening the onboarding mechanism with thorough verification of customer details via NSDL and UIDAI checks, complete authentication of customer contact details, enhanced customer profiling checks, and redesigning the geo-tagging process for address verification.

Digital banking is enhancing the retail liabilities franchise by enabling the Bank to source more accounts through seamless onboarding, personalized offerings, and data-driven engagement. Additionally, digital banking strengthens the overall customer relationship value by integrating savings, investments, and lending products into a unified experience, fostering long-term loyalty and higher wallet share.

In the transformational space centered around customer experience, the Bank launched a Lean Digital Savings Onboarding journey for existing assets and payments customers, where all their demographic details and Know-your-customer (KYC) are pre-filled in the savings application, and only incremental or missing details are fetched from the customer along with the necessary initial funding. In the assisted mobile-based onboarding space, the Bank is an early adopter of UIDAIs facial recognition technology-based KYC, allowing customers to be onboarded based on face match with customer records in the Aadhar repository. The Bank also enabled a savings application tracker that allows customers to check real-time updates and status of the savings application from submission to account activation seamlessly.

The Bank continued to focus on retail term deposits throughout the year by leveraging new individual customers through its strong acquisition channels. This was complemented by the revamp of its journeys on digital channels, such as the ability to book fixed deposits (FD) from outside funds and booking non-callable FDs online. Individual current account (CA) customers can now seamlessly book FDs via WhatsApp. Total term deposits increased by 14% Y-o-Y in fiscal 2025.

During the year, the Bank introduced several new product propositions, including the ‘ARISE savings account for women and the Doctors Banking Program, to offer the best banking services and life experiences under one bouquet. Premiumization of the deposits franchise continues to be an important imperative for the bank.

During the year, the Bank launched the ARISE savings account, a thoughtfully designed proposition for women seeking financial security, independence, and growth. Women customers have always been at the forefront of disciplined saving, often maintaining higher balances in fixed deposits and mutual funds.

With ARISE, we aim to not only enhance our deposit focus but also provide a product that caters to womens unique financial needs, whether they are balancers securing their familys future, simplicity seekers building emergency funds, or go-getters with long-term saving goals. When we solve for women, we solve for everyone.

In line with the premiumization strategy of the Bank, we launched a Doctors Banking Program specifically targeting doctors as a micro-segment, which constitutes a high-income cohort. We intend to take a holistic “One Axis” proposition to them with this program, catering to all their needs comprehensively and increasing cross-selling opportunities for the Bank, thereby building stickiness with these customers.

Branch Banking

To serve the customers better and deepen relationships with them, the Bank has organically built a well-diversified branch network over the years. The Bank continues to look at the segments and demographic areas that are relevant to the Retail Banking strategy, before setting up a branch. The new branch additions have been balanced and well diversified across Metro and Urban locations and RuSu (Rural and Semi Urban) regions as the Bank continues to focus on improving the market share across districts led by micro market focused approach.

During fiscal 2025, the Bank crossed a milestone of 5,800 branches as it opened 500 new branches, thereby reinforcing its commitment towards making banking solutions accessible to diversified segments of customers. As on 31 March, 2025, the Bank had a network of 6,265 branch banking outlets with 5,865 branches, 3 Digital Banking Units, 11 extension counters, 152 specialised branches (lending centers) and 234 Business Correspondent and Banking Outlets (BCBO). The Bank also has extensive network of 13,941 ATMs and Recyclers, which not only handle the cash deposits and withdrawals, but also serve as self-service and fulfilment centres. The Banks geographical reach in India now extends to 692 districts across 28 states and 7 union territories.

The Bank promotes a fair and equitable relationship between the Bank and its customers. The Bank treats all customers fairly and does not discriminate customers on any grounds such as gender, age, religion, caste, literacy, economic status, or physical disability. To cater to the needs of “persons with disabilities”, the Bank has enabled its ATMs with braille keypad and talking functionality (voice guidance). In respect of Bank branches which are not easily accessible, ramps are constructed wherever feasible, for facilitating access to persons with disabilities. Adequate seating arrangements and support for banking services are provided. Certain large offices have special equipment, such as stretchers and wheelchairs for ease of movement. We also provide doorstep banking for ease of operations for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Customers in need of assistance can contact the designated officer at their branch or may bring it to the notice of the Nodal Officer.

Retail Lending

Retail lending continues to be a high growth sector in India, driven by a large affluent customer base, a young population, and growing needs of the Indian consumer.

The Banks retail loan book exhibited well diversified growth across the portfolio. Throughout the fiscal year, the Bank focused on driving growth in prioritized products and preferred customer segments, which was facilitated by its advanced analytics-driven underwriting and comprehensive risk management framework.

The Banks retail lending strategy is focused on deepening relationships with the existing-to-bank (ETB) customers via its branch network and digital platforms, while also focusing on select segments to drive new-to-bank volumes.

The Bank has embarked on multiple transformation projects across product segments to introduce end-to-end digital journeys for customer onboarding across channels, enhance customer experience, improve employee productivity, and reduce turnaround times.

Siddhi, the Banks comprehensive mobile platform, now supports the entire frontline retail lending team, enabling faster loan application processing, while offering a holistic view of the customer to the sales architecture, and a tightened sales rhythm to drive productivity.

The Banks mortgages segment comprising of Home Loans and Loans against Property (LAP) delivered sustained growth, with improving profit metrics in fiscal 2025. During the year, the Bank made progress in its Digital Home Loan journeys by providing real-time sanctions to customers at builder sites. The Bank has also introduced an e-Disbursement journey which includes capabilities of e-NACH setup, digital payments, e-stamping, & e-signing for document execution. This has enabled simplification of customer onboarding, with a reduced turnaround time.

We have seen moderation in unsecured loan growth at an overall industry level, primarily driven by Credit Cards and Personal Loans. The Bank continues to grow the personal loan segment in a risk-calibrated manner through various initiatives, including enhanced end-to-end digital journeys. ~79% of the Banks personal loans originate from internal customers, with a significant portion coming through pre-qualified programs, ensuring portfolio risk remains within defined guardrails. A strategic program to digitize education loans is underway which will enable real-time integration with channel partners. The Bank continued building strong OEM and corporate relationship in the Wheels business, and focused on high yielding sub-segment of pre-owned vehicle financing. The Banks digital lending platform (Maximus) was launched in fiscal 2023 and within 2 years ~72% of new car loans are digitally processed through this platform. This fiscal, the Bank also launched end-to-end digital journey for two-wheeler loans, with 100% digital disbursement.

The Bank continues to invest in sustainable and profitable growth by expanding organic distribution, increasing share from channel partners, improving risk management frameworks, and strengthening our processes.

Bharat Banking

Indias economic landscape is undergoing a significant transformation, marked by robust GDP growth, rapid digital adoption, and targeted financial initiatives. These developments are particularly impactful in rural and semi-urban regions, where enhanced connectivity, digital services and financial inclusion are unlocking new opportunities. Embracing the theme “Har Raah Dil Se Open,” we are dedicated to leverage these advancements to unlock opportunities across rural and semi-urban landscapes. By integrating our existing infrastructure with digital technologies, the aim is to provide seamless financial services, empower communities, grow our presence in white spaces and contribute to the nations inclusive growth journey. Our distribution network has expanded to 2,736 branches in RuSu markets, complemented by the 28k+ strong Common Service Centers (CSC) Village Level Entrepreneurs network. We have enabled additional 250+ branches in fiscal 2025. We have also expanded our partnership network to 25+ partners with large names across industries such as Agri-techs, Fintechs, corporates and NBFCs with deeper rural presence leveraging their network to cater to the last mile customers.

Bharat Banking continues to deliver on the growth trajectory with advances and deposits growing 7% and 9% in fiscal 2025 Y-o-Y, from the RuSu markets.

The digital transformation journey continued in fiscal 2025. Our key focus on digitization is e-KYC, e-NACH, e-Sign and e-Stamp along with pre-screening for early decisioning (across verticals). Farm Mechanization was the 1^st business vertical to go-live in SFDC (LOS) with 100% adoption (for New tractors). Our MFI-retail journey is end-to-end (e2e) digital with digital agreement (supported by e-Sign/e-Stamp). As on March 2025, we have also enabled Micro-loan in this new e2e digital platform. In fiscal 2026, we target to onboard 3 key verticals in SFDC digital · Bharat Enterprise B2B retail, Farmer funding (KCC) and Micro-LAP. This aside, we are instilling operation risk control measures on our Gold loan journey through digital means and plan to offer Digital instant CASA journey for all our Bharat Banking verticals, to drive our deposit books. As One Axis, we continue to drive focused initiatives to expand in Bharats key ecosystems. One of our initiatives, “Mandi Mitra” aims to capture the entire value chain within the Mandi ecosystem. Pertaining to the top 100 high-turnover Mandis, aiming for a 10% annual increase in the Banks assets and liabilities share. With expansion into 423 Mandis and permanent branding in key locations, we are strengthening our presence, offering a comprehensive product suite, and leveraging data-driven lending solutions.

Customer referral program with “Connecting the Dots” initiative yielded 97,000+ conversions in fiscal 2025, and has now entered Phase 2, impacting over 14 lakh beneficiaries through deeper engagement in both Bharat and non-Bharat branches. We continue to focus on building a partnership ecosystem. Through collaborations with CSC, ITC Agribusiness, and others, we have delivered over Rs30,000 crores in disbursements and opened 9 lakh+ liability accounts over the past 3 years. In fiscal 2025 alone, the partnership channel contributed Rs10,000 crores in disbursements, 2 lakh+ CASA accounts, and launched innovations like Gold on UPI.

Fiscal 2025 has been a year of prudent growth in the Agri and MFI sector, with a balanced approach to managing external risks while steadfastly supporting rural entrepreneurs and fostering financial inclusion.

Risk & Compliance measures are being strengthened by aligning with regulatory requirements for priority sector lending (PSL), ensuring adherence to evolving guidelines. Additionally, a structured approach to collections is being implemented, leveraging digital payment solutions and on-ground engagement models to improve recovery efficiency. The Bank continues to drive financial inclusion across the country through Government Sponsored Schemes, improving financial literacy through trainings, working with BC partners to distribute banking products, and taking several actions to increase credit & deposit penetration in RuSu markets.

Retail Payments

The payments industry is experiencing rapid transformation, driven by significant changes in customer spending behavior and a dynamic regulatory environment. A notable surge in non-cash transactions reflects a growing preference for cashless payment methods. This shift is further accelerated by the governments strong push for digital payments, which has led to wider customer adoption. As a result, the industry is witnessing substantial progress and unlocking vast opportunities for continued growth.

The payments business remains a cornerstone of the Banks Retail Banking strategy, serving as the primary touchpoint of the franchise by enhancing customer engagement and driving profitability. The Bank continues to prioritize customer acquisition, particularly through the issuance of fee-based cards that demonstrate higher activation and usage rates. Simultaneously, it focuses on deepening engagement with low-risk customers by implementing targeted portfolio programs. These initiatives are supported by robust risk management practices designed to mitigate early-stage risks from vulnerable customer segments. The Bank had ~15 million cards in force with a market share of ~14% as of 31 March, 2025. The credit cards business also touched the highest ever yearly spends of Rs226,645 crores, up 12% Y-o-Y, yet another milestone for the business.

The Bank has established co-brand partnerships with leading players across diverse sectors including e-commerce, fintech, telecom, fuel, retail, airlines, and consumer durables enabling it to cater to the unique needs of every customer segment with differentiated offerings. These strategic alliances are a testament to the Banks position as a preferred partner, driven by its strong product suite and supported by a robust and resilient technology infrastructure. The Banks ‘Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card co-branded card achieved yet another significant milestone of ~4 million cards, establishing itself as one of the most powerful co-branded card offering since its introduction in July 2019. The Banks partnership card spends continued to exceed industry benchmarks in terms of activation and card usage, with better risk outcomes.

The Bank now provides cards across all four networks, offering customers enhanced flexibility and choice. By expanding its portfolio of proprietary and co-branded cards, the Bank is fortifying its partnerships across these networks. Additionally, the Bank has elevated its ultra-high-net-worth individual (UHNI) offerings with the introduction of the prestigious “Primus Card.” Over the past few years, the Bank has significantly enhanced its technology platform to support greater processing capacity, integrate additional APIs, and ensure compliance with the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA DSS). During the year, several key digital initiatives·such as end-to-end digital issuance, Video KYC, and real-time income estimation·have been implemented with real-time decisioning on partner platforms. These advancements have collectively contributed to a more seamless and enriched customer experience. The Cards business continues to operate within clearly defined risk guardrails. Strengthened onboarding controls to address emerging early-stage risks, along with more resilient collection practices, have contributed to maintaining healthy asset quality. This disciplined risk management approach has empowered the Bank to confidently deepen customer engagement and drive sustained business growth.

In the Merchant Acquiring Business (MAB), the Bank has maintained its position as a leading merchant acquirer, achieving a terminal market share of ~20% as of March 2025. The Banks ongoing investments in technology have significantly enhanced both product offerings and the overall merchant user experience.

The Bank continues to deliver a robust value proposition in the MAB segment, offering a diverse range of products tailored to various markets, business segments, and geographic regions. The year saw the launch of Neo for Merchants, a comprehensive mobile application designed to serve all merchant payment needs. Additionally, we introduced the NFC Soundbox, capable of accepting both UPI and contactless card transactions, enhancing payment convenience and efficiency.

As part of our merchant stack, the Bank excels in providing deep integrations and developing customized solutions, demonstrating our commitment to addressing the unique requirements of our clients across different sectors.

Under the ‘One Axis approach, the MAB team is successful in being the Bank to the merchant offering liabilities, assets, and third-party products. Collaborations with ecosystem solution providers have enabled segment-specific solutions to meet diverse customer needs. These initiatives have driven strong growth in cross-selling, high-value CA deposits, and asset sourcing.

In the UPI payments domain, the Bank remains committed to differentiating itself as a leading payment franchise in the country and striving to deliver superior customer and merchant experience with a keen focus on customer-centric innovations. The Bank consolidated its strong presence in the UPI space with a market share of 33.3% as Payer PSP by volumes as of March 2025 as against 26% in March 2024, achieving and sustaining the number 1 position amongst Payer PSP banks since August 2024. This was achieved on the back of a two-pronged strategy of partnerships with new fintech players and continued deepening of existing partnerships with tech giants like PhonePe, Google Pay, Amazon and WhatsApp. Additionally, the Bank maintained its status as a preferred acquirer, securing a 19% market share in P2M acquiring throughput as of March 2025. During the year, the Bank went live with several new lending partnerships, providing them payments solutions while receiving corporate flows through these partnerships. There was sustained growth of Credit on UPI for both issuing and acquiring and new launches such as UPI Circle which further demonstrated the Banks capability to drive the organic volume growth of UPI transactions. The Bank now has more than 183 crore customer VPAs registered as on 31 March, 2025. The Bank continues to focus on building a robust IT infrastructure and upgrading IT capabilities due to which the Bank has one of the lowest technical decline rates in the industry and is amongst the leading payments solution provider.

Retail Forex and Remittance business

To facilitate cross border transactions, the Bank offers Forex Cards, Inward and Outward remittance services to its retail customers through branch and digital channels.

On Forex Cards, the Bank continues to focus on strengthening its digital journeys with new enhancements such as digital reloads and automated discounts based on customer value score. These initiatives have helped grow the digital footprint to over 90% on all fresh issuances for retail customers. The bulk upload feature introduced for corporates enables seamless and efficient reloading of multiple cards simultaneously thus saving time and offering convenience to corporates. Curated offers on the Multi-currency Forex Card were launched during the year to cater to customers travelling overseas for leisure, to countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Customer Value Propositions (CVPs) on the forex card are being further refined to bring sharper focus to three customer segments basis purpose of travel viz. student, business and leisure. Our long-term growth strategy is aligned to building distribution and scale in these three travel segments for Forex Cards. To complement the Banks deposit mobilization drive, customers have been encouraged to bring in their remittances from abroad using the inward wire transfer and digital Remit Money portal, offered by Axis Bank. Customers were segmented basis their residential status and transaction history, among other variables. Curated offers on pricing were offered to drive customer loyalty and repeat transactions.

Customer convenience and ease of doing business has been at the forefront of the Banks endeavors to simplify product journeys. ‘T day (same day) credit on inward wire transfer remittances has been enabled making Axis Bank, one of the leading players to offer this service in the industry. Funds get credited to the customers account the same day as against the erstwhile lag of one day. Additionally, the Bank has reviewed and increased the purpose codes for STP (straight through processing) from 5 to 41 and the STP transaction limits have also been increased from Rs15 lakhs to Rs25 lakhs. This enables transactions to get processed faster for the specified list of purpose codes, without the requirement of documentation. Remit Money, the Banks digital platform, now offers 3X higher limits and faster transfers on the USD-INR corridor. Customers can benefit from enhanced transaction limits from $10,000 to $30,000 on self-transfers, apart from competitive pricing offered on the portal. All Citi customers were seamlessly migrated to this platform in July 2024. Customers can also use the Banks vostro partnerships with Correspondent Banks and Exchange Houses to remit funds to India, apart from wire transfer and remit money services.

On Outward Remittances, the Bank launched overseas remittances to GIFT city through digital channels. This allows customers the convenience of transacting digitally without the need to visit the branch. The Bank has also invested in building technical solutions which can be integrated through APIs with strategic partners to expand the acquisition network through this tie up. The Banks growing partnerships with fintechs and online stockbrokers has led to 64% of transactions in fiscal 2025 getting processed digitally as against 45% last year.

During the year, the Bank has complied with all regulatory guidelines as per the directives released by RBI and other authorities relating to cross border remittances. System level changes have been successfully implemented to validate the customers PAN details with that available on the NSDL portal. Projects related to system level integration of the Banks forex related systems with that of RBI for the purpose of checking the LRS (Liberalized Remittance Scheme) limit utilization across banks are under development. As per the Union Budget 2025 announced by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Bank has implemented revision of TCS (Tax Collected at Source) limits from Rs7 lakhs to Rs10 lakhs which came into effect from 1 April, 2025.

The Bank handled Retail Forex volumes of USD $5.4 billion during fiscal 2025 and has an active customer base of ~4 lakhs on Retail Forex products.

Third Party Distribution

Axis Bank is one of the leading distributors of third-party products which includes Mutual funds, Life insurance, General & Health insurance products, National pension system, Digital Gold.

The Bank offers comprehensive bouquet of investment, protection and retirement solutions that caters to the diverse needs of each customer segment.

In fiscal 2025, third party distribution business contributed significantly to the Banks retail fee income growth on back of its strong partnerships, contextual product launches, wide distribution strength and digital initiatives.

As of 31 March, 2025, the Banks mutual fund assets under management (AUM) stood at Rs91,661 crores, reaffirming its position as the third largest banking distributor in the industry. The Bank serviced a mutual fund customer base of ~12 lakhs as on 31 March, 2025, reflecting growing investor trust and engagement.

Leveraging insights from its dedicated in-house research desk, the Bank curates and recommends mutual fund schemes based on a robust combination of qualitative and quantitative parameters. At present the Bank distributes mutual fund products from 25 leading Asset management companies (AMCs) through its extensive branch network and digital platforms, aligning investment offerings with customers life stages and financial goals.

In addition to mutual funds, the Bank also provides access to select Alternate Investment products from SEBI-registered providers, offering customers a broader range of wealth creation opportunities.

The Bank offers online as well as offline trading services to its customers in collaboration with Axis Securities Ltd. under the brand name Axis Direct. Through its branches, the Bank has sourced ~6.36 million total customers for Axis Direct with 7.7 lakh customers being added in fiscal 2025.

The Bank continued to be one of the largest Bancassurance player in terms of both Life and Non-Life Insurance volume among private Banks with an annual fee growth of 39% in Life Insurance and 11% in Non-Life insurance in fiscal 2025. The Banks strategy of adopting a Digital first approach, tailormade solutions in Health Insurance with segmental product launches led to growth of 13% in topline premium placement for its insurance partners.

By securing more than 1.6 lakh+ retail accounts for National Pension System product, the Bank improved its retail market share to 21% from 13% in fiscal 2025 and thereby becoming number 1 in POP space in terms of new business. Continued innovation in this space includes Digital integration journeys in core Bank platforms and enabling SIP option for customers to invest.

The Bank has an innovative user-friendly digital interface - Axis Marketplace - to facilitate distribution of insurance solutions. Axis Marketplace offers third-party products integrated directly with insurance partner systems thereby providing seamless journeys and instant issuance facilities.

The Bank continues to focus on reimagining end to end journeys and build a digital ecosystem for Investment Products on its mobile banking app and internet banking to ensure seamless access anytime, anywhere.

Wealth Management

The Banks wealth management business has been strategically built out over the years to cater to the evolving needs of its affluent customer base. We recognise that the wealth management needs differ for our customer cohorts viz. affluent salaried customers, entrepreneurs, senior citizens or NRIs. At the core of our proposition, is our unwavering commitment to grow and preserve customers wealth. Accordingly, we have partnered with many players in the asset management space, to offer select schemes across Portfolio Management Services (PMS), Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs), Debt and fixed income, and mutual funds. In fiscal 2025, we started new partnerships with 3 mutual fund AMCs, and 17 PMS and AIFs, post careful due diligence, to expand options for our customers.

The overall assets under management facilitated by the Bank for its customers grew to more than Rs1 trillion as on 31 March, 2025. The number of new SIPs booked by our customers through digital as well as physical modes grew from ~5 lakhs in fiscal 2024 to more than 6 lakhs in fiscal 2025, with ~80% contributed through digital channels.

The Bank also has a team of wealth experts who have deep knowledge of diverse wealth products (PMS, AIFs, Debt and fixed income, Mutual funds). They are supported by an in-house economic research, asset management partners and the Axis franchise across our subsidiaries to meticulously create investment options based on our clients financial goals. This strategy ensures that the Bank provides all its customers the very best in products & services based on their needs and profile.

In line with changing customer behaviour and preferences, the Bank has continued to deliver and enhance intuitive digital journeys in its digital platforms. Our clients can now invest across asset classes be it digital gold, NPS, Mutual funds, insurance, or sovereign bonds seamlessly through our mobile banking app · ‘open. The digital channels continue to be among the best in industry and contributed over Rs8,600 crores of MF gross sales, 102% growth over last year. We also launched co-origination of MF investments through SIP along with saving bank account opening for our customers, which has been well accepted by the salaried customers of the Bank, who find the ability to start an SIP very useful in their wealth management journey.

In fiscal 2025, Bank also launched a digital journey which provides our customers the option to open demat and trading accounts simultaneously along with opening of savings account. This has been well accepted by our customers, by simplifying the onboarding experience for them. In Q4 FY25, we opened more than 1 lakh accounts through this bundled proposition. During the year, the core wealth management backend system was upgraded to handle much larger scale of transactions and we continue to invest in making the platform best in class.

Affluent Banking

The ‘Burgundy offering for our HNI customers has been built by the Bank with curated features and offering for the needs of such customers, across banking, investment and insurance products. These services are catered to by best-in-class talent consisting of 550+ Relationship Managers, 475+ Premium Service Managers and 100+ Wealth Specialists spread across more than 350 branches in India. This has enabled the Bank to take the services to customers beyond the major cities and, into the tier 2 and tier 3 cities where the wealth management landscape is experiencing a notable transformation. The NRI segment is seen as a key segment by the Bank in furthering its premiumisation agenda, and accordingly offers its NRI customers products and service journeys through remote channels. In addition to banking products, the Bank caters to NRI clients to enhance their wealth creation journey through investment options in India and full suite of product offering through our digital platforms. The NRI segment is serviced through more than 450+ dedicated NRI RMs in branches as well as 300+ virtual RMs.

The Bank launched “The Burgundy Promise” with an aim to provide a truly enhanced, distinctive, and Industry-first servicing experience to our premium segment customers. Through this unique proposition which is based on three key pillars- defining commitment, measuring performance and transparent communication; the Bank has committed to provide quick resolution on selected services within a defined TAT of 6 working hours, along with a real time tracking mechanism via the digital channels.

During the year, the Bank applied and received the license as a distributor of capital market products and services at its IFSC Banking Unit (Gift City). The Bank is working towards building an equally strong wealth proposition through Gift City to service the needs of Non-Resident Indian (NRI) investors looking to invest in India, and Resident Indians exploring geographic and currency diversification in their portfolio.

Private Banking

Burgundy Private, the private banking franchise of the Bank catering to the UHNI segment, continues to grow strongly since its launch 5 years back. In fiscal 2025, the Bank expanded the Burgundy Private program to 15 additional tier-2 cities, as part of the strategy to harness the growing number of UHNIs and their wealth in these markets. With customer assets under management of more Rs2 trillion across 13,000+ families including 35 of the Forbes 100 richest Indians and presence across 42 cities, the business continues to scale heights, capitalising on the well-established operational synergy with key business units within the Bank under the ‘One Axis initiatives. During the year, there was a 4-fold increase in acquisitions through the ‘One Axis initiative.

‘Burgundy Private Experiences launched last year made further progress with more than 15 curated events across various genres such as musical, arts, sports, and investment. These events helped Burgundy Private clients get together to network with like-minded patrons. Burgundy Private Experiences has now built an identity of its own and our clients look forward to such events, which is helping us enhance client engagement through a different lens.

‘Investment Perspective, an initiative to empower Burgundy customers with knowledge and information on the Global and Indian equity & fixed income markets from the senior most Fund Managers in the industry continued to receive excellent feedback from all customers. This was also extended to NRI customers across multiple cities as part of the home-coming campaign.

Burgundy Private Partners are at the centre of ensuring, our clients “Experience the Power of One”. The people strength in our private banking arm has grown to more than 250 vintaged Burgundy Private Partners with an average working experience of over 17 years. They are ably supported by a well-trained team of more than 125 Service Partners to ensure superior service delivery. We have also strengthened the team with dedicated Investment Counsellors and Insurance Specialists, who are certified and trained for the purpose.

Burgundy Private franchise has been consistently pursuing excellence and has been dedicated to enhancing service delivery in Private Banking, customer centricity at the centre. The institutions relentless endeavour to provide the best services to the customers and their families has continued to garner international recognition, with the Bank earning top honours such as ‘Indias Best for Next-Gen at the Euromoney Global Private Banking Awards 2025 and Best Digital Innovator of the Year award at the Global Private Banker WealthTech Awards 2025.

The Bank has successfully established a strong brand identity for Burgundy Private, defined by credibility and lasting recognition through strategic partnerships. Reinforcing this commitment, Burgundy Private extended its collaboration with Hurun India by launching the 4^th super edition of ‘Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 Most Valuable Companies, in February 2025. This edition highlighted the leadership of Indias top companies, including key players from the new economy.

Priority Sector Lending (PSL) is a regulatory mandate designed to ensure that banks direct a specified portion of their lending to underserved yet creditworthy sectors of the economy. These sectors, which include agriculture, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), affordable housing, education, and renewable energy, are critical for inclusive economic growth. By channelling credit to these areas, PSL promotes financial inclusion and addresses gaps in credit access, enabling balanced development across rural and urban India.

In fiscal 2025, the Bank has successfully achieved its overall PSL targets, demonstrating a robust internal framework for meeting regulatory requirements. With a clear vision to become self-sufficient in agriculture credit in the coming years, the Bank is implementing targeted initiatives in rural and semi-urban markets through its Bharat Bank strategy. This strategic focus not only ensures compliance with PSL mandates but also positions the Bank as a key driver of financial inclusion in underserved regions.

The Bank is actively strengthening its product capabilities and distribution network to enhance credit flow to the agriculture ecosystem. Its offerings include crop loans, such as those under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme, investment credit for farm infrastructure, and loans for farm mechanization. These products are tailored to meet the needs of farmers and support the Banks compliance with sub-category PSL targets for agriculture and farmer finance. By addressing the specific credit needs of the agricultural sector, the Bank is fostering sustainable rural development.

Under the Bharat Bank strategy, the Bank is expanding its presence in rural and semi-urban markets to drive higher credit growth. This involves augmenting distribution channels and product offerings to cater to the unique demands of these regions. By financing not only farmers but also food and agri-processors, rural MSMEs, and corporate supply chain participants, the Bank is effectively supporting the entire rural ecosystem. This holistic approach strengthens the rural economy and aligns with the Banks commitment to inclusive growth. In addition to agriculture, the Bank has made significant strides in enterprise lending, particularly to rural MSMEs and participants in the agri-value chain. Both its retail and commercial banking segments maintain a focused approach to MSME lending, which is a critical component of PSL. By delivering higher credit to these enterprises, the Bank is empowering small businesses and contributing to job creation and economic resilience in rural and semi-urban areas.

Finance to NBFCs for onwards lending to various priority sector end borrowers also assisted the bank delivery of credit to needy section of society and its aims to bolster i key partnership across BFSI domain to further increase the coverage in under penetrated region. Partnership arrangements under Co-lending with many large NBFCs/MFIs further supports the growth in organic PSL advance. Additionally, the Bank is actively pursuing other partnership arrangements as well as securitisation to increase credit flow in priority sector to increase the Banks PSL advances specially in food and agriculture sector.

During the year, the Bank continued its focus on augmenting the small ticket size loans, crop loans to small and marginal farmers, and microfinance business targeted at women borrowers from low-income households. The Bank also enhanced its digital lending channels to facilitate quicker turnaround time for sanction and disbursement of loans to MSME borrowers. The Banks PSL achievement during fiscal 2025 is ~48.5% as compared to the stipulated target of 40% of Adjusted Net Bank Credit. The Bank through organic book and purchase of PSL certificates (PSLC) achieved the overall PSL target and sub sector targets of Lending to Agriculture, Lending to Small & Marginal Farmers, Lending to Weaker sections, Lending to Non- Corporate Farmers & Lending to Micro Enterprises. During the fiscal 2025, the Bank purchased PSLCs of an aggregate amount of Rs72,454 crores at a cost of Rs1,484 crores (excluding taxes) and sold PSLCs of an aggregate amount of Rs67,000 crores and earned income of Rs197 crores.

Digital Banking is a key strategic initiative and an area of distinctiveness for the Bank. The Bank was among the first to launch an independent “fully Digital Bank” within the Bank as part of Axis 2.0 strategy. In the last six years, the Bank has made substantial investments in Digital to build inhouse proprietary, distinctive digital native capabilities and deliver end to end digital journeys and products, towards becoming a Digital Consumer lending powerhouse.

Today, the Bank has dedicated people across departments focused on furthering the digital agenda. The Bank has a inhouse full stack engineering team, and today a large number of the Banks digital products are built inhouse. Further, the Bank has a large digital product and marketing team and a design team. The Bank has invested in best-in-class platforms across the DevSecOps pipeline, Cloud infrastructure as well as developed its own platforms for design (Sub-zero and Accord).

The Bank rebranded Axis 2.0 as “Open by Axis Bank”, as it upgraded and redesigned the journeys and its mobile app to deliver seamless and personalized end to end customer experiences. The “Open by Axis Bank” mobile banking app is now rated 4.7 on the Google Playstore and 4.8 on the Apple app store. The Banks mobile banking app is rated as the worlds highest rated mobile banking app on the Google Playstore with over 3 million reviews with ~15 million monthly active users. The Bank today has a large suite of over 30 digital products live as part of “Open” · across assets, liabilities, fee income products. The Bank has built fully digital onboarding journeys for Savings account, Salary account, Current account and Term deposits. Similarly on the assets side, the Bank caters to both unsecured and secured asset journeys across Personal loans, Business loans, Auto-loans, Gold loans, Home loan journeys, etc. The Bank also upgraded its end-to-end digital journeys for Credit Card customer onboarding, cross-sell/up-sell as well as servicing.

In fiscal 2025, the Bank added several new products/customer propositions in addition to continued investments in existing products. Some of these included My Money · a personal finance manager, fixed deposit using UPI, One-view · multi-bank account aggregator.

As a result of these, the Bank today is at the forefront of providing cutting edge digital solutions to its customers with significant growth in metrics across digital adoption, usage, transactions, servicing and sales. “Open” by Axis Bank currently contributes ~6% to the banks overall business led by 47% Y-o-Y growth in deposits and 15% Y-o-Y growth in loans during the year.

On Digital lending, the Bank has made substantial progress towards becoming a “Digital Consumer lending powerhouse”. During the year, the Bank has made strides in enhancing capabilities critical to this business. The Bank is among the market leaders in Account Aggregator ecosystem · a capability critical for underwriting new-to-bank customers in lending. The Bank has built best in class personalization capabilities towards its objective of becoming the leading customer centric bank. The ‘Open app offers over 10,000 personalised nudges across multiple features. This has been augmented by the “Just for you” section on the app dashboard. The Bank launched a benefits dashboard to enhance transparency on rewards, benefits and fees on Credit cards.

The Bank has also made strong progress in ‘Project Neo, that the Bank had embarked on its transformational journey to be Indias #1 digital Wholesale Bank. Under Project Neo, the integrated journeys across wholesale products and services being experienced by the customers are based on how a customer views their business as opposed to a product led approach. The Bank continues to invest in technology stack to ensure that it leverages the latest technologies, addressing for system resiliency, scalability and agile enhancements.

“Neo for Business” · the Banks MSME focused platform that caters to banking and beyond banking services has seen over 1.8 lakh customer registrations. The Banks Corporate Developer Portal now includes over 135 Open Banking APIs as part of its wide transaction banking portfolio offerings. Neo for Corporates, the path breaking new age digital banking platform which encompasses a fully cloud based solution has also enabled the Bank to hyperscale products while offering a single Integrated Digital Platform across Payments, Trade, Forex, etc. Axis Neo Connect, the Banks industry first plug and play solution for seamless ERP integration to wide domain of banking API services continues to see strong uptake across customer segments.

The Bank stands as a leading and all-encompassing Wholesale Banking franchise in the country, addressing every banking need of the Corporates. We are building on our strong foundation with distinct, innovative strategies that differentiate us in a competitive landscape and set the stage for next-year growth.

Throughout the fiscal year 2025, our focus remained on fostering deeper client relationships and delivering comprehensive banking solutions. By leveraging our ‘One Axis approach across different business segments and subsidiaries, we successfully encompassed the entire corporate value chain.

The Wholesale Coverage Group offers a wide array of products and services such as cash credit facilities, demand and short-term loans, project finance, export credit, trade services, forex and derivative solutions, payment and cash management systems, tax payments, salary accounts, trust services, commercial and credit cards, and much more. Backed by a dedicated Wholesale Banking Products team, we provide customized solutions to meet the diverse financing needs of our clients. The Banks Wholesale Coverage serves diverse customer segments ranging from SMEs, Start-ups, Large and mid-corporates, MNCs, Financial institutions and intermediaries, PSUs and Government departments through its sharpened coverage structure, as follows:

• Mid-Corporates & Medium Enterprises Group (MEG): Covering all corporate clients with turnover between Rs100 crores and Rs1,500 crores;

• Large Corporates: Covering all corporate clients with turnover greater than Rs1,500 crores;

• Focused Segmental Coverage: Covering PSUs, Government-owned entities, Multi-national companies, Start-ups, Real Economy corporates and Financial institutions.

Wholesale Banking Coverage Group

The Bank has solidified its position as the preferred transaction bank, excelling in Current Accounts, Cash Management, Trade & Supply Chain Finance, Capital Markets, and Custody services, resulting in increased market share over the years. The Bank recognizes the dynamic and evolving needs of start-ups and the significance of offering tailored financial solutions. We are proud to maintain strong relationships with 70% of unicorns and over 40% of Series A and above funded start-ups across the country. The Bank has notably collaborated in areas such as cash management and core banking solutions, structured Escrow services, and API customization, leading to a substantial increase in transactions per second (TPS) and round-the-clock, high-volume settlements 365 days a year. These enhancements equip new-age players with a diverse range of capabilities. We continue to drive the future of digital banking through a comprehensive suite of banking NEO APIs, which are being leveraged by fintechs and E-commerce players for bill collections, payments, trade, and more. As a market leader in domestic payment gateway services, Axis Bank is expanding its capabilities by enabling the cross-border payment and collections space through PACB arrangement.

In our ongoing commitment to fostering the start-up ecosystem, we have introduced the Axis Start-Up Card, specifically designed to support entrepreneurs. These cards facilitate seamless travel, business expenses, and vendor payments, providing enhanced flexibility and financial control within the start-up ecosystem.

The Bank is a trusted partner to start-ups throughout their growth journey, with majority of tech founders choosing Axis Bank for their public listing in fiscal 2025.

The Banks E-Commerce Centre of Excellence (ECOM COE) is committed to scaling its presence in this sector, with an ambitious goal to double business growth over the next three years.

The Real Economy Group (REG), a specialized segment within the Wholesale Coverage Group, targets infrastructure and real estate clients. Within just two years, REG has doubled its business and contributes nearly 50% to overall syndication volumes, securing Axiss position as the top bookrunner for local currency loans in India for the second consecutive year.

With a strong government focus on sustainable infrastructure, especially clean energy, REG has significantly supported Indias clean energy goals, contributing nearly 50% of the banks financing to green sectors, covering major players like Renew Power, Actis, Macquarie, and Brookfield.

Beyond asset build-up, REG is dedicated to enhancing customer engagement through the One Axis franchise. It has synergized with Axis Capital and Axis Trustee, aligning with the Govt and Capital market regulators push for Alternative & Hybrid vehicles such as Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

MEG is expanding “NEO for Business” suite to deliver seamless onboarding and credit processing with AI-driven analytics and self-service tools, streamlining operations and personalizing solutions for medium enterprises. Supported by additional branches,deeperregionaltiesandstrategiccollaborationswithrelevantecosystem,ourextensivenetworkprovidesintegrated financial solutions & propels growth.

The Bank secured Indias first Blue loan, a USD 500 million deal from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The funds will finance or refinance eligible Green projects and Blue assets, supporting environmental sustainability and restoring oceanic and freshwater resources.

The Bank also secured a landmark UTI Mutual Fund deal through a competitive RFP process, doubling Axis Banks Assets Under Custody (AUC) from ~Rs5 lakh crore to Rs10 lakh crore. This significantly enhances our portfolio and establishes us as a formidable competitor in custodial services, paving the way for further institutional custody business.

The WBCG organized a Defence Conclave titled “Atmanirbhar Defence · Empowering the Defence Ecosystem,” in collaboration with IDeX, KPMG, and IVCA. This event united government officials, industry leaders, foreign OEMs, venture capitalists, MSMEs, and startups, emphasizing collaboration and self-reliance. Axis Bank supports Indias self-reliance in defence manufacturing and innovation, reflecting our “Har raah dil se open” theme.

WBCG integrated with the Government of Indias “Upyog“ Platform for Himachal Pradesh, unifying 60 local bodies for citizen services. Axis Bank developed 40+ customized products for government departments, including Upyog and ATREDS. Our first-mover advantage in QR-based tax collections and drone-based disaster management highlights our commitment to innovation and customer-centricity.

The Information Technology & Global Capability Center - COE, aims to enhance bank-wide penetration in the IT & GCC universe through One Axis synergies and innovative products. With over 1,000 MNCs banking with us and a 32% CAGR, we offer customized offerings and improved features to meet varied needs. We are committed to doubling our liabilities book in 5 years through execution excellence, holistic account planning, and focus on sectors with strong MNC presence, such as IT & GCC, and Shipping & Logistics.

Looking forward, we are poised to harness our digital transformation, strengthen customer engagement, and capitalize on strategic partnerships to sustain growth.

Supplementing the Indias vibrant growth story, Government of India has allocated a staggering over Rs11 lakh crore towards capital expenditure in the fiscal 2026 budget. This significant investment underscores Indias commitment to doubling down on Infrastructure development, setting the stage for a transformative year ahead. Private sector giants are also stepping up, with Rs3.5 trillion in private capex earmarked for key sectors such as infrastructure, renewables, ports, roads, and commercial real estate. This synergy between public and private investments is poised to drive unprecedented growth and modernization across the country and the Bank is continuously building its capabilities & prepared to capture this demand which aligns with our focus on strong asset growth (Infra, Greenfield projects, EV, REIT & INVITs, Renewables, Road, Manufacturing etc) Fees, deposits, CASA etc.

Adding to this momentum is Governments Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme that is designed to boost incremental production and sales by offering financial incentives to companies that manufacture specific products in India. As a bank, we see immense potential in this initiative and intend to support our clients in expanding their manufacturing capabilities & impetus to start ups, thereby driving further growth and enhancing our portfolio.

Our strategic focus includes driving overall efficiency, productivity & profitability and further deepening our market penetration/ share of wallet. As we navigate this dynamic landscape, our commitment to sustainable growth remains unwavering.

Commercial Banking Coverage Group (CBG)

CBG is a critical and vital segment of the Bank, contributing significantly to both business growth and profitability. CBG caters to the evolving needs of MSMEs across the entire customer value chain - spanning Loans, Trade/Forex, Liabilities, and Fee-based products and provides tailored banking solutions for both business owners and their employees, ensuring seamless financial support at every stage of their journey.

The MSME sector has consistently demonstrated its resilience and remains the backbone of the Indian economy. Recognizing this, CBG is committed to serving their diverse financial needs through innovative solutions, a customer-centric approach, and strategic partnerships. CBG strives to be a trusted partner, enabling MSMEs to scale and succeed. As MSMEs progress in their journey, CBG aims to be their trusted financial partner, providing comprehensive banking solutions that fuel their growth and contribute to the nations economic prosperity.

CBG has a wide geographical presence with 155 dedicated MSME centres, aligned to the extensive branch network of the Bank. The book of CBG is Rs1.19 lakh crores as on 31 March, 2025. It is a PSL engine of the Bank, generating stable and high quality PSL for the Bank.

We are enhancing our digital platforms·expanding the capabilities of our “NEO for Business” suite·to deliver seamless, rapid onboarding and credit processing. By integrating AI-driven analytics and intuitive self-service tools, we are not only streamlining operations but also personalizing solutions to meet the nuanced needs of medium enterprises.

Our extensive network, now strengthened by new branch expansions and deeper regional ties, coupled with strategic collaborations (notably with the Mid Corporate segment), is creating an ecosystem that delivers integrated financial solutions and opens new avenues for growth.

The Bank has strengthened its proposition as a Transaction Bank of choice across Current Account, Cash Management, Trade & Supply Chain Finance, Capital Markets and Custody and gained market share. The Banks focus has been on providing differentiated, integrated product propositions to our clients across corporate, commercial banking, financial institutions, and government segment.

As part of Wholesale Banking initiative, “NEO by Axis Bank” reflects the Banks commitment to building a leading digital Transaction Bank. This initiative encompasses a broad spectrum of best-in-class digital offerings, including APIs, Corporate Internet Banking, Host to Host integration, and strategic partnerships. The Bank has been on this journey for over 3 years, and its transaction banking thought leadership and consequent deep solutioning continued to see widespread adoption at an increasing pace, demonstrating a strong product-market fit.

The Bank has built solutions to cater to the full range of business customers based on their digital maturity. The Bank has not only built a wide suite of APIs for corporates to integrate their ERP solution easily to the Bank, it also created the corporate developer portal for digitally savvy customers to integrate in a Do-It-Yourself fashion with the Bank.

Cash Management

The Bank offers comprehensive cash management solutions across all segments. The Bank has implemented new payment hub and increased the NEFT transaction processing speed by 2x during peak hours. The Bank continues its leadership position in processing the highest number of NEFT and IMPS transactions amongst all the banks. With an objective of easing the clients reconciliation activities, the Bank has invested in the account statement infrastructure by enabling customised MT940, account statement and balance through API. This helps the customers to implement a STP capture of data in their ERP, automating their recon.

The Bank is also authorised for collection of Direct Taxes, GST and Custom Duty. For GST collections, Bank has activated the payment gateway for collection through cards and UPI.

The Bank is progressively improving on its leadership position in Bharat Connect (earlier known as BBPS) ecosystem and has been amongst the first movers to launch “Prepaid Electricity Meter” and NPS (Axis is a Sole BOU) category in BBPS. The Bank continues its leadership position in terms of number of biller onboarding and highest number of transactions amongst private banks & has been leading the way for new category of billings like B2B and piloting new initiatives with NPCI, billers & fintech partners.

Commercial Cards

Our Commercial Card business continued to drive innovation, offering tailored payment solutions that enhance cash flow management, streamline expenses, and improve working capital efficiency for businesses. With a strong focus on digitization, we expanded our suite of offerings, including launch of exclusive card for sole proprietors, backed by enhanced 24/7 phone banking support and an end-to-end digital onboarding journey. By integrating cutting edge technology and strategic partnerships, we reinforced our leadership in B2B & statutory payments, positioning commercial card as a critical enabler in business transactions.

Trade and Supply Chain Finance

The Bank offers a comprehensive suite of Trade and Supply Chain Finance products and solutions · for both domestic as well as international trade. These solutions are offered via our various channels such as our branch network and various digital channels with capabilities of integration with client systems. The Bank has a dedicated team of product specialists · both in sales, product and operations who support clients for their various requirements such as exports, imports, bank guarantees, working capital optimisation and liquidity & risk management solutions.

• International Trade solutioning

The Bank continues to provide unique solutions to Indian exporters, exporting especially to geographies with lesser than acceptable country rating, by confirming Letter of Credit (LCs) through enhanced structured partnerships with multilaterals and international banks. The Bank commercialised solutions for Auto and Oil exporter clients through robust partnership solutions. The Bank also enhanced trade capabilities at its Gift City branch by launching new products to facilitate international trade. In order to simplify regulatory procedures, the Bank provided solutions to Export clients to merge their ERP data to reconcile with Export Data Processing and Monitoring System (EDPMS) data.

• Initiatives on Structured Trade:

The Bank has forayed into Structured Trade Finance during the year and a specialised team has been put in place to cater to the requirements of corporates on this front. During the year the bank executed deals pertaining Back-to-Back LCs and a structured Finance deal in the energy sector from its Dubai Branch. Structured trade as a business is a key focus area for the bank and is poised for growth.

Additionally, the Bank is expanding the integrated supply chain solutions across the clients life cycle through multiple products that cater to specific segments supply chain requirements.

Current Account

The Banks focus on becoming the transaction bank of choice resulted in a steady growth in the current account balances. Current Account Product has also been focusing on service excellence for client stickiness and retention through better penetration into Self-service channels through branch of the future initiative (BOTF), building customer journeys across Re-KYC & other service requests.

During the year, the Bank also expanded customised banking proposition sectors like FMCG, Real estate, Pharma & Healthcare, Tourism & hospitality, IT & GCC, E-commerce, Education, Farmers producer organisation, while continuing the focus on digital current account proposition for merchants through co-origination of current account along with other digital offerings.

The Banks Treasury & Markets function comprises of Asset Liability Management (ALM), Forex Trading group (including Currency Derivatives & Bullion), Interest Rate Trading (IRT) (including Rupee Derivatives) & Primary Dealership, Non SLR Trading (including Equity), Debt Capital Markets · DCM (Domestic DCM & International DCM), Treasury Sales, Loan Syndication, and Treasury Technology & Governance team.

The Banks ALM group manages the regulatory requirements of Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) and Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) and Net Stable Funding Ratio (NFSR). The group also manages the liquidity, interest rate and currency risks in the Banks portfolio, under the guidance of the Asset Liability Committee (ALCO) of the Bank.

The Banks Forex Trading Group is a major participant in the foreign exchange and derivatives market and undertakes proprietary trading and market making in forex and derivatives products.

The Interest Rate Trading (IRT) desk plays an important role of market making and trading in G-Sec, OIS & other interest rate products. The Bank is primary dealer of Government securities. PD desk ensures mandated bidding commitments, success ratio & turnover ratio for T-bill auctions/ G Sec are achieved for the year. The Corporate Bond & Equity Trading desk undertakes primary and secondary market investments in corporate bonds, commercial papers, certificate of deposits, and equity instruments.

The Bank remains a dominant player in the Debt Capital Market (DCM) segment. The Bank regained its numero uno position for calendar year 2024 (as per Bloomberg league table) after ranked 3^rd in the calendar year 2023. The Bank maintained its leadership position for 16 consecutive years as the number one arranger until calendar year 2022. The Bank also has a growing International Debt Capital Markets franchise with mandates from leading corporate issuers for their international bond issuances. The desk has demonstrated a track record of arranging several ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) compliant issuances.

Treasury Sales, a part of the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (FICC) industry along with Coverage provides bespoke treasury solutions including customised risk management and hedging solutions to our diverse clients. The team offers a spectrum of forex and derivatives products, and its strengths lie in complex and structured risk management solutions, as well as hedging advisory and execution skills. A comprehensive digital proposition “Neo for Markets” is offered to clients and is ranked amongst the leading Treasury Solutions provider in the country.

The Banks Loan Syndication desk is responsible for arranging loan facilities for corporate clients on underwriting/arranger/ best-efforts basis while also undertaking secondary sale and purchase of loans. The desk, being active in both domestic and international loan markets, plays an integral role in balancing the risks and returns on the Banks corporate loan book. The Treasury Technology & Governance (TTG) team oversees the Treasury Technology implementation and ensures appropriate governance framework is put in place before new products are rolled out to customers/undertaken in Interbank market.

During the year, the Bank successfully transitioned to Murex as the core and integrated state-of-art Treasury system for all products other than Bullion as part of its technology upgrade.

Sparsh, our Customer Obsession program, is a Bank-wide priority and a core area of distinctiveness for us, the tenets of which are now ingrained across all our 5,800+ branches, every customer touchpoint, and amongst all our 1.04 lakh+ colleagues. The journey toward customer obsession commenced at Axis Bank with an extensive outside-in effort, encompassing surveys of over 12,000 customers, conducting over 1,000 employee discussions, and evaluating more than 50 global companies for benchmarking purposes.

Sparsh 2.0: Enhancing Customer Satisfaction and Business Outcomes

Sparsh 2.0 aims to link Sparsh initiatives to enhanced customer satisfaction, leading to improved NPS and better business outcomes. The key focus areas of Sparsh 2.0 include:

• Regional Structure: The department was restructured to bring a regional focus, with nine regions covering Branch Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Retail Assets, along with subsidiaries, AVC, and Axis Phone. Sparsh Labs were also introduced to conduct innovative, low-cost, high-impact experiments to continuously collect customer feedback.

• Listening with Intent: A pan-organization culture of listening to customers was fostered, from the Managing Director to product teams and frontline staff.

• Focus on Input Metrics: Efforts were made to reduce Turnaround Time (TAT) and improve First Time Resolution (FTR).

• Agile Customer Service: Real-time close looping of Net Promoter Score (NPS) detractors (customers who vote negatively towards bank service) and complaints was implemented to ensure agile customer service.

• WOW Moments: Low-cost, high-impact interventions were implemented to delight customers distinctively.

• Business Outcomes: Key input metrics were identified to drive positive business results.

• Customer Loyalty: Efforts were made to increase the number of products per customer (PPC) by becoming the customers primary bank.

• Customer Advocacy: Expansion in reach and business was driven by customer referrals, fostering a culture of customer advocacy.

The Bank has established four fundamental building blocks of customer obsession to realize its vision and strategy:

• Craft delight journeys: Embedding delight/WOW moments in customer journeys to make it distinctive.

• Embed Sparsh values in every employee: Deepen the cultural transformation to ensure customer delight is a fully embedded DNA through behaviors and initiatives for all employee including off-role.

• Measure and act on Customer Feedback: Net promoter score to be aligned with business outcome, churn rate, being the primary Bank to our customers.

• Build institutional capabilities: Build & facilitate institution wide capabilities and frameworks like, Axis Promise, tech capabilities - Adi, Kaleidoscope to ease operations and deliver delightful experiences.

The Business Intelligence Unit (BIU) is a high impact team with a mandate to work with different businesses across the Bank to make better decisions and drive value using data and data products.

The teams impact spans across multiple areas including marketing, risk management, business strategy, collections and fraud management across multiple businesses including retail lending, credit cards, retail deposits, wholesale banking products, commercial banking group, operations, financial crime intelligence, compliance etc.

There are over 740 highly capable members in the team in various techno-functional roles with expertise in data engineering, data science, Gen AI and strategic analysis. Over the last 24 months, the Bank has made significant investment in rewiring the latent operating model with a focus on skill mapping including creation of new-age role archetypes (for e.g., ML Engineers), granular individual skill mapping, well defined skill assessment platform and personalised skill development.

The Banks focus on Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) & Machine Learning (ML) along with traditional analytics has helped internal stakeholders to make data driven business decisions. The Bank continues to invest heavily in new age data science and engineering platforms · Big Data Lake, Cloud data platform, Micro Services-based architecture, and Analytical Work Bench. Cloud migration has been a big focus over last 24 months with multiple uses migrated to hybrid loud strategy adopted by the Bank.

The Bank has built a modern data stack, with 2,000+ live use cases. It is a petabyte scale lakehouse with terrabytes of data ingested the every day leveraging enterprise class tools to drive scalability and flexibility for the business. On data governance and quality, the Bank has leveraged MDM (master data management) to create a cutting-edge data quality outcomes. MDM is a customer master data for managing customer date elements from multiple core systems in one place. This has placed the Bank with a great starting point to leverage quality data and drive changes required to comply to new DPDPA act. During the year, the BIU team focused on 3 key distinctive initiatives · Optimisation analytics, ML Engineering and Generative. Optimisation analytics has allowed the Bank to create 10,000+ simulations factoring in realistic constraints to arrive at data backed optimal outcome for the Bank. Optimisation analytics is being used across multiple areas including pricing strategies, marketing cost optimisation, etc. The Bank also uses optimisation analytics to ensure the loan offer made to customer is optimal in terms of pricing and limits offered. The Bank has embarked on journey for creating cutting edge ML engineering capabilities which has enabled the Bank to reduce its model development lifecycle by 25%. On Generative AI, the Bank has launched multiple use cases focused on enabling large scale automation and improving employee productivity.

The Information Technology (IT) department vision aligns with the Bank strategy to be a leading tech and digital bank, committed to technological excellence and innovation with a secure, resilient, efficient banking system. The Bank aspires to develop and maintain advanced digital and data capabilities, enhance operational efficiency through innovative solutions, empower customers and employees through reimagined journeys, ensure the highest standards of security and reliability across IT operations, and drive cost efficiency and maximize return on investments.

The IT department has been focusing heavily on expanding its technology capabilities with a talented team of 2,000+ members having strong domain expertise. Furthermore, IT is committed to innovation, resiliency, and enhancing customer experience with focusing on more than 35 key initiatives including lending transformation, GenAI, personalization, digital payments, and integration of cloud ecosystem.

The Bank is continuously enhancing its Mobile Banking platform, now featuring more than 250 functionalities. The Bank has achieved remarkable ratings of 4.8 on the iOS App Store based on 349K reviews and 4.7 on the Google Play Store from 3 million+ reviews. The improved capabilities of the Banks channels have notably increased the volume of service requests managed at branches, resulting in a growth of monthly active users to over 15 million. Currently, the Mobile Banking application boasts 33.7 million registered users. The Bank is committed to sustaining its top-tier status and excellent ratings on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store throughout the fiscal 2026.

The Bank has enhanced its support capabilities by providing services in more than ten languages. Furthermore, the Bank has 32 digital services on Branch of the Future (BOTF) channel with new features such as change in EMI cycle, change in EMI repayment account, and ability to download loan account statement. The Banks WhatsApp banking channel exceeded 30 million customers, conducted 100+ campaigns and 40 million+ communications, and added FD booking and Loan services as its latest offerings.

The Bank maintained a strong presence in the UPI sector, with a total VPA base of 1,674 million and facilitating around 37.6 million merchant transactions daily via the UPI platform. The Bank has achieved the top position in the UPI Payer PSP market, commanding a market share of ~33%. Furthermore, the Bank has launched an UPI-enabled ATM cash withdrawal and deposit feature, in addition to existing offerings such as RuPay Credit Card on UPI, digital currency interoperability through UPI, and UPI support for international payments. The Bank also has one of the lowest UPI technical decline levels among the peer banks.

The Bank initiated the integration of GenAI into its operations by launching Axis Deep Intelligence (ADI), an internal chatbot powered by GenAI. ADI is leveraged over 5,800 branches throughout India and supports more than 104,000 employees. The Bank is harnessing emerging technologies such as AI/ML, automation, and data analytics to enhance customer experience, optimize operational efficiency, and improve staff productivity by building AI assists. Furthermore, the Bank has empowered different departments with Co-pilot capabilities including 4,500+ bots across 1,850+ automated processes.

The Bank has built a secure and hybrid API platform using an API Gateway and Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) for external partners and internal users. The Bank has developed a cloud-based integration platform to manage API products for partners, such as account opening and co-lending services. Furthermore, the Bank has established API guardrails to classify APIs into different levels of criticality (High, Medium, Low) with better security controls and API governance. The Bank has launched API-driven products with partners like Flipkart, Google, and Airtel, addressing transactional banking, trade, credit card services, foreign exchange, and payment solutions. The API usage has surged, with a 50% increase in daily requests, over 840 partner APIs, 850+ partner onboardings, and 2,000+ internal APIs. The API developer portal offers access to 460+ APIs for over 5,000 developers, enhancing accessibility.

The Bank has maintained a Cloud-first and Cloud-native approach, creating three enterprise-grade landing zones and deployed over 150 applications on the Cloud. The Bank became the first Indian bank to receive ISO certification for AWS and Azure cloud security. With a focus on hyper-automation, the Bank utilised Infra-as-a-Code and enhanced application observability with Cloud-based SRE practices. The Banks cloud infrastructure achieved high maturity in governance, resilience, data recovery, security, monitoring, and incident response. Additionally, the Bank secured cloud privacy certification and implemented robust security protocols, including Zero Trust Controls.

The Bank operates centralized IT infrastructure from two primary data centers across different seismic zones (Mumbai and Bengaluru) and a near DR data center (Bengaluru). These centers use wide area network connectivity and multiprotocol label switching for application delivery to domestic and overseas branches. The data centers comply with the best benchmarking standards, feature redundancy systems with multiple active power and cooling paths. The Bank has implemented data privacy measures, including user access management, network security, secure configuration, BCP, DR, and database security, ensuring seamless digital experiences for customers, employees, and partners.

The Bank led CBDC initiatives, becoming the first among peers to launch both Android and iOS apps, with over 0.65 million registered customers and 6 million transactions. As the preferred RBI partner for the Government-led Programmable CBDC initiative, the Bank collaborates with various ministries and organizations. The Bank aims to expand government collaboration for CBDC projects and integrate with TPAP to boost adoption.

The Bank is dedicated to maintaining top-tier data security and privacy standards, continuously investing to enhance its capabilities. It follows a comprehensive cyber security program with policies and standards based on industry best practices and regulatory guidelines. The Banks cyber security framework, aligned with NIST and ISO27001 standards, focuses on key areas: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. It complies with multiple ISO standards, including ISO27001 Information Security Management System (ISMS), ISO27017 Cloud Security Standards, ISO27034 Business Application Security Certification, and ISO27018 PII Data Security Standard Certification, as well as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS), showcasing its robust cyber security resilience.

The Bank operates a 24/7 Security Operations Centre and Cyber Security Operations System, with all digital products monitored on the Dark Net/Deep Web. It boasts a BitSight Rating of 810 out of 900, indicating a strong internet-facing security posture, surpassing 90% of banking and finance entities tracked by BitSight. Internally, the Bank employs a zero-trust architecture, enhancing security technology and process controls.

To protect its information assets, the Bank has implemented various cyber security controls, including Zero-Trust Architecture for secure remote access, micro-segmentation to reduce the cyber-attack surface, Advanced End-Point controls and Data Leakage Prevention (DLP), secure-by-design practices like DevSecOps and security testing and rigorous vetting of SaaS and PaaS providers for compliance and security.

Further, the Bank has implemented a robust Enterprise Security Governance Framework, e-mail security controls against phishing, continuous security monitoring and threat intelligence, network security measures like WAF and DDoS Protection and Cloud security measures supporting Cloud-First goals for enhancing its cyber security controls.

The Banks Information & Cyber Security governance framework operates at both strategic and executive levels to ensure that controls are commensurate with applicable risks and threats. Heres a detailed look at the committee oversight and governance:

Strategic Level Oversight

Board of Directors: The Board is responsible for the oversight of the Banks cyber security strategy and risk management. They ensure that the cyber security measures align with the Banks overall business objectives and regulatory requirements. Risk Management Committee: This committee focuses on identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks, including cyber security risks. They review the effectiveness of the Banks risk management framework and ensure that appropriate measures are in place to manage cyber threats.

Executive Level Oversight

Information Technology & Digital Strategy Committee: This committee oversees the Banks IT and digital strategies, ensuring that cyber security is integrated into all digital initiatives. They monitor the implementation of cyber security policies and standards, ensuring compliance with industry best practices and regulatory guidelines.

Information System Security Committee: This committee is responsible for the operational aspects of the Banks cyber security program. They oversee the implementation of security controls, monitor cyber threats, and ensure that the Banks information assets are protected. They also coordinate with various regulatory bodies to strengthen the Banks cyber defence mechanisms.

By having a structured governance framework with clear oversight responsibilities, the Bank ensures that its cyber security measures are robust, effective, and aligned with its overall business objectives. This comprehensive approach helps the Bank maintain a strong security posture and protect its information assets from cyber threats.

The risk management objective of the Bank is to ensure that the Bank operates in a risk · sensitive manner within the parameters of the Board approved Risk Appetite Statement and the concerns of Risk Department, while balancing the tradeoff between risk and return. In order to achieve this objective, the Bank has ensured at the outset the following enablers

• Robust risk governance from the top

• An independent risk management function

• Board approved risk appetite

• Focus on risk culture

Risk Governance

The Board is the apex Governance body on all matters of risk management. The Board of Directors exercises its oversight over risk management both directly and through its Committees, namely the Risk Management Committee, the Audit Committee of the Board, the Special Committee on Monitoring Bank Frauds and the IT & Digital Strategy Committee. While the Board reviews risk management matters on a quarterly basis, including approval of risk policies, risk profile, stress testing, risk policies, key & emerging risks etc., the Risk Management Committee oversees these matters in greater detail and depth and approves the Risk Appetite Statement of the Bank.

Executive Risk committees are constituted to look at specific areas of risk and are mandated by the Risk Management Committee of the Bank. Till fiscal year 2025 these were: Credit Risk Management Committee (CRMC), Asset Liability Management Committee (ALCO), Operational Risk Management Committee (ORMC), Information Systems Security Committee (ISSC), Central Outsourcing Committee (COC), BCP & Crisis Management Committee (BCPMC), Apex Committee, Subsidiary Governance Committee (SGC) and Enterprise & Group Risk Management Committee (EGRMC). The Risk Management Committee of the Bank exercises oversight on these committees through review of their minutes and a review of the risk profile reviewed in these committees.

Independent risk management function

An independent risk management function offers assurance to the Board that risks are being taken and managed in line with the overall risk appetite of the Bank and the risk management policies of the Bank approved by the Risk Management Committee and the Board.

In order to ensure independence, the following enablers are in place:

• Risk function is headed by a Chief Risk Officer who is appointed by the Board of Directors and reports to the Risk Management Committee with additional reporting to the MD & CEO of the Bank.

• The Chief Risk Officer does not have any business targets nor does this officer have any other role like operations, technology etc.

• The Chief Risk Officer has direct access to the Risk Management Committee of the Board and meets the committee one on one on a quarterly basis without any other officers of the Bank being present.

• The Risk function under the Chief Risk Officer is part of various decision making bodies. For example, Risk function is a permanent invitee to all credit sanctioning committees in the wholesale banking space, Risk function convenes and conducts meetings of executive risk committees etc.

• The Risk function is well staffed in terms of people and has independent access to data needed to support its working.

The Risk Department, while discharging its role, first lays down risk policies which are then approved by the Board of Directors, and then monitors the risk profile of the Bank across various components of risk in line with these policies and also informs and escalates matters of concern to the appropriate levels of management.

Risk Appetite

The overall risk appetite and philosophy of the Bank is approved by the Risk Management Committee of the Bank.

The Risk Appetite Statement and the framework thereof provides guidance to the management on the desired level of risk for various types of risks in the long term and helps steer critical portfolio decisions.

The Risk Appetite is set at the Bank level and is cascaded into the business units for driving decisions at an operational level. It is monitored by the Risk Department which reports on the adherence thereto to the senior management and also to the Risk Management Committee.

Risk Culture

A robust operational risk and compliance culture is the cornerstone for risk management in any institution. In the Bank, Risk Department along with Compliance Department has put in place an action plan to strengthen the risk and compliance culture. This includes various initiatives such as -

• Training and awareness programs

• Strengthening staff accountability framework

• Clarity on roles and responsibilities of the front line staff

• Tone from the top through communication from the MD & CEO

Risk Architecture

The risk architecture is composed, for every type of risk, of elements of -

• Governance with executive risk committee oversight

• Risk policies to provide guidance

• Tools for measuring risk level

• Monitoring of risk profile

• Reporting for actioning

A summary of these facets of the key risks is provided here:

Strategic initiatives undertaken in fiscal 2025

The Bank has invested in strengthening the risk infrastructure across multiple dimensions.

During fiscal 2025, the Risk Department enhanced its coverage of risks by strengthening the governance around group risk through a comprehensive group risk appetite and deeper coverage of key risks by the EGRMC. The Department also continued to enhance its scope of model risk by enhancing the model governance and validation processes.

In terms of control environment, the Department strengthened controls around operational risk, technology resilience and digital banking, leading to a reduction in the level of critical and persistent operational risks.

Finally, Risk Department led the operational risk and compliance culture initiatives and tracked the milestones therein to closure, which would, over time, lead to a robust risk lens being embedded in business.

Risk Department also continued to work on its four areas of distinctiveness -

• Enhancing the climate and ESG risk conversations in the Bank

• Training and certification for cyber security

• Models in the retail lending space for credit · led underwriting

• Models and toolkits for rural lending

The Risk team remains focused on supporting the Bank in implementing its GPS strategy in a risk · sensitive manner. To that end, the team has identified a few critical initiatives to support the various strategic thrusts such as enhancing toolkits around digital banking, rural lending, cyber security, universal underwriting and enhanced credit monitoring. Further, to strengthen the risk culture, Risk Department will focus on stronger risk appetite governance, proactive risk actioning around key risk concerns and enhanced group risk oversight.

Successful implementation of these initiatives will help the Bank to achieve its GPS objectives in a sustainable manner, embedded in the bedrock of a robust assurance culture.

As a Financial Conglomerate (FC), Axis Group has established a robust framework & process of governance over its subsidiaries, approved by the parent Banks Risk Management Committee and Board, and Subsidiary Governance Department (SGD), which plays key role in ensuring: a. alignment of important policies by the subsidiaries with group wide policies & best practices; and b. regular engagement with the subsidiaries and the concerned departments in the Bank involved in the process of governance over subsidiaries to review status of governance and further reporting to group level executive committees and the committees of the Board of the Bank.

Over the last year, the Bank has tightened the process of governance over subsidiaries and some of the important measures taken include review of penalties levied by regulators on the subsidiaries to reduce, if not eliminate, them in a sustainable manner, by guiding them to make changes in systems & processes. Further, framework for reporting of significant events has been put in place, which lists down the incidents/events which the subsidiaries are required to report to the Bank along with timeline, details to be shared and the recipient departments & process to be followed thereafter by respective departments responsible for reporting to executive & Board committees.

All the matters of subsidiary governance are overseen by the executive committees, namely Subsidiary Governance Committee (SGC) & Enterprise Risk Management Committee (EGRMC) and Board of the Bank as well as committees of the Board, namely ACB, RMC and CSCB. These forums are provided update on important matters relating governance in the group companies by group assurance heads and SGD on a quarterly basis.

Compliance function is one of the key elements in the Banks corporate governance structure. The Bank follows Board approved policies to ensure compliance with the regulatory requirements, which are updated regularly to factor in the changing and increasing regulatory and supervisory requirements and expectations, as well as other good practices. Identification, assessment, and management of compliance risks and ensuring timely and comprehensive compliance to regulatory requirements on an ongoing basis is an integral part of basic responsibilities of every employee, stakeholder, and function within the Bank. The Board and senior management emphasise zero tolerance for non-compliance to regulatory requirements.

The Banks Compliance department ensures that overall business of the Bank is conducted in strict adherence to the guidelines/statutory provisions as stipulated by the regulators/authorities and guides the business units and other stakeholders on regulatory requirements with a special emphasis on better understanding of the perspective/spirit of the guidelines and regulations. It closely works with Risk and Internal Audit functions and monitors various activities of the Bank with emphasis on proactive regulatory risk management.

The Bank has been undertaking various projects/measures to strengthen the compliance monitoring, as part of continuous improvement, through review of frameworks, processes, enhancement of technology, use of AI tools, etc. The other important focus areas to ensure robust regulatory compliance continues to be the frameworks for Root Cause Analysis (RCA), accountability & consequence management, self-identification of issues & remediation by first line of defence, compliance testing frameworks and automation of processes wherever feasible to eliminate the operational errors.

The Bank has also strengthened its oversight over its subsidiaries through implementation of group governance framework/ policy, review of compliance with the business licenses issued by regulators/authorities to subsidiaries and alignment of policies of subsidiaries with Banks policies wherever required. All heads of compliance functions in the subsidiaries have a dotted line reporting to the Group Chief Compliance Officer, who oversees the status of regulatory compliance across the group through laid down process of timely and regular reporting by the subsidiaries and an ongoing monitoring process.

The Internal Audit function of the Bank operates independently under the supervision of the Audit Committee of the Board, which reviews & evaluates the efficacy and performance of the internal audit function. The audit policy, strategy and plan for carrying out audits across functions of the Bank and the Axis Group are approved by the Audit Committee of the Board. Further, audit policy, strategy and plan are reviewed regularly to factor in inputs received from regulatory guidance, changes in regulations, business landscape & emerging areas of business and risks, learnings from various operational failures, risk incidents, frauds, etc., in a dynamic manner.

The Internal Audit function provides an independent assurance to the Board of Directors and Senior Management on the quality and efficacy of the internal controls, risk management systems, governance systems and processes in place on an on-going basis. This is provided to primarily ensure that business and non-business functions are following both internal and regulatory guidelines and processes.

In line with the RBIs guidelines on Risk Based Internal Audit (RBIA), the Bank has adopted a risk based internal audit policy. The Risk Based Internal Audit policy has been designed factoring regulatory guidelines and international best practices. The policy has a well-defined architecture for conducting Risk Based Internal Audit which articulates the audit strategy in terms of a concerted focus on strategic and emerging business risks. These inputs form a key step in the identification of the audit universe for the audit planning exercise. The audit frequencies are in congruence with the risk profile of each unit which is audited. Further, concurrent audit, off-site audit, and thematic & snap audit reviews have been integrated into the internal audit process to make the function more robust. The Audit function recommends for making improvements in operational processes, design elements and policies, as part of audit report recommendations.

Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and robotic process automation are deployed to harness enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in performance of audits. Automated checks and tests have been developed across various functions covering retail, wholesale, treasury, operations, and also to augment thematic audits, information security audit, revenue audit and concurrent audit, to independently evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of internal controls on an ongoing basis and to proactively recommend enhancements to the process owners. The Internal Audit function has mix of resources with expertise in technology and functional skill for effectively conducting various types of audits. The

Internal Audit function continuously strives to enhance its effectiveness & efficiency through internal reviews and external evaluations and augmenting skill sets of the audit resources for making Internal Audit Function agile and responsive towards the emerging and strategic risks.

Internal Audit framework for subsidiaries has been further strengthened under the Group governance framework by having group audit policy, which is supplemented by structured engagement, audit oversight, monitoring of key KRIs and conducting thematic audits.

CSR

The Banks ‘OPEN philosophy continues to shape its strategy and actions towards creating long term impact in the community. Through its CSR interventions, which are guided by the CSR Policy and overseen by the Board and its CSR Committee, the Bank has been contributing towards the socio-economic welfare of underprivileged and under-represented communities across the country primarily under the broad themes of sustainable livelihoods, education, financial literacy and inclusion, conservation and protection of the environment, health & nutrition, sports, as well as humanitarian and relief based interventions. The Banks CSR efforts consciously strive to touch the most marginalized communities such as those in the aspirational districts, remote regions and north-east regions. The Bank continues to ensure that its CSR Policy, governance and oversight, and project implementation are in accordance with the Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 and all rules made thereunder.

The Banks CSR interventions continue to be delivered directly, through credible implementation partners, and the CSR arm of the Bank viz. Axis Bank Foundation.

Axis Bank Foundation was established in 2006 as a Trust to give strategic direction to the Banks CSR aspirations. Since 2012, the foundations activities are focused on the theme of Sustainable Livelihoods, delivered across the two pillars of Rural Livelihoods and Skill Development. Since 2018, the Foundation has implemented its ambitious ‘Mission 2 Million commitment of supporting 2 million households in India. In fiscal 2025, ABF achieved this milestone impacting 2.05 million participants across 300 districts in 32 states and union territories as on 31 March, 2025. In this fiscal alone, it reached 0.39 million participants.

This year, the Bank expanded its efforts in Education theme · scaling Axis DilSe? interventions to new remote geographies, strengthening education system through key partnerships, and supporting advance research and innovation.

The Bank expanded its Axis DilSe? interventions to Arunachal Pradesh, launching a school transformation program in Shi Yomi district and establishing a Teacher Training & Skill Academy at Mechuka. This initiative in partnership with Sunbird Trust, is expected to benefit more than 2,500 children and 900 teachers over the program period, strengthening the education ecosystem in the region. Additionally, the Bank scaled up its Block Transformation Program in partnership with Tata Steel Foundation to six more blocks · three in Odisha and three in Jharkhand · building on the success of Odapada block transformation program. This expansion ensures equitable and quality education for more communities.

As part of strengthening the education system, the Bank partnered with Sri Aurobindo Society to build the teacher capacity of over 300 Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Schools and over 80 state government schools across 6 states, in competency-based learnings, assessments, and pedagogies, in alignment with NEP 2020. Additionally, the Bank collaborated with Mantra Social Services to improve educational outcomes by catalyzing collective action in five districts across Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand, driving systemic improvements in the education sector.

To support research and innovation, the Bank scaled up its partnership with Plaksha University to construct and operationalize Future Tech building which will house experiential learning spaces, innovation facilities, and collaborative hubs. Additionally, the Bank will institute a Faculty Chair at the university and support Ph.D. and Post doctoral fellowships to strengthen academic excellence and research impact.

As part of the Banks efforts in the Healthcare sector, it announced strategic partnerships with three leading cancer care and research institutions·National Cancer Grid (NCG) under Tata Memorial Centre, The Indian Cancer Society (ICS), and St Jude India Childcare Centers. The partnership will enhance digital oncology infrastructure, improve access to cancer care, and support research and early diagnosis initiatives.

This year, the Bank also introduced sports as a new thematic focus area. The Bank partnered with Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) to support 224 athletes and para-athletes across 10 Olympic and 8 paralympic disciplines. Additionally, in collaboration with Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS), the Bank launched a Judo Development Program in Manipur to nurture grassroots talent in the Judo discipline. Under this initiative, 104 young judokas received foundational training in Manipur, while 53 female judokas will be awarded full scholarships to study and train at the state-of-the-art IIS campus in Vijayanagar, Karnataka.

Under the Environment theme, the Bank made considerable progress towards meeting its commitment planting 2 million trees across India by 2027 and continued to support plantation programs over and above its commitment. As of 31 March, 2025, ~3.27 million saplings had been planted across 7 geographies by the Banks implementing partners thereby achieving its target. The interventions also supporting vulnerable communities living in the peripheries of protected forests and reducing human-animal conflict.

During the year, the Bank extended humanitarian support and relief in flood affected areas in Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Manipur working with its partners or local organizations. Additional details on the Banks CSR governance, interventions and impact for the reporting year can be accessed in the Annual Report on CSR Activities which forms part of this Annual Report. Additional information is also available on the Banks corporate website at https://www.axisbank.com/csr and on the Foundations website at http://www.axisbankfoundation.org/

ESG

Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) is integral to the Banks long-term organizational strategy and actions. The Bank continues to align its overall decision-making and subsequent operations to its Purpose Statement - ‘Banking that leads to a more inclusive and equitable economy, thriving community and a healthier planet.

To drive action on focused themes under the larger ESG agenda, specific groups have been set up at the management level. These include the ESG Working Group to drive sustainable financing initiatives and the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Council to drive the diversity focus. In fiscal 2022, Axis Bank had become the first Indian bank to establish a standalone Board level ESG Committee, enabling the Bank to align its diverse priorities and activities under a unified and cohesive ESG agenda. Under the ESG Committees oversight, the Bank had also announced a series of ESG-aligned commitments with its business and non-business activities, which are being driven by the pertinent verticals across the organization. The Banks commitments are aligned to pertinent Sustainable Development Goals and to Indias climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. In fiscal 2025, the ESG Committee of the Board met 4 times, wherein it reviewed the Banks progress towards achieving its ESG-aligned commitments and also provided its guidance on new initiatives and activities. The Banks overall ESG-aligned activities, highlights and developments during the fiscal, including its progress on its commitments, are published in this Integrated Annual Report which is aligned to the <IIRC> framework and the GRI reporting framework. Towards its commitment of achieving incremental wholesale lending of Rs30,000 crores in sectors with positive sustainable impact by 2026, as included in the Banks Sustainable Financing Framework, the Bank achieved Rs30,409 crores of incremental lending as of 31 March, 2024 thereby meeting its target much in advance. Therefore, in this fiscal, the Bank re-evaluated the wholesale lending target and set it to Rs60,000 crores to sectors with positive social and environmental outcomes by 2030. The Bank has achieved Rs48,412 crores of incremental lending as of 31 March, 2025. In fiscal 2022, the Bank had also taken an internal commitment to scaling down its exposure to coal mining and trading, and thermal power sectors, which is being tracked on a quarterly basis and reported to the ESG Committee of the Board. As of 31 March, 2025, the Banks exposure to these two sectors was well within the annual limits set as part of the glide path. The Banks total Wholesale lending portfolio in the ‘green sectors stood at Rs22,160 crores as of 31 March, 2025.

Towards its commitment to making 5% of its Retail Two-Wheeler loan portfolio as electric by March 2024, the Bank achieved an EV share of 3.62% till fiscal 2024 (cumulatively since 1 October, 2021), partly due to policy changes such as changes to FAME II program and consumer anxiety around charging infrastructure and lack of used market. Notably, in this period, the Bank entered into exclusive dealer finance programs, launched a differential policy to support the EV segment, and scaled its retail tie ups, in addition to offering a sector-leading up to 0.5% interest discount on EV loans, thus achieving an EV share of 5.53% for this fiscal. During the year, the Bank also re-evaluated its EV lending portfolio and set up new targets to increase the share of electric vehicle revenue in two-wheeler loan portfolio and four-wheeler passenger loan portfolio to 6% and 4% respectively by 2027. As of 31 March, 2025, the Bank has achieved an incremental lending of 7.14% in Two-Wheeler electric vehicle and 2.92% in Four-Wheeler passenger segment electric vehicle. The Bank is also actively scaling its ESG aligned retail products including solar rooftop loans for SMEs and green home loans.

Under the ESG Committees oversight, the Bank has been actively working towards strengthening its climate risk management capabilities at the enterprise level. In 2022, the Bank had reached its first milestone of embedding ESG- and climate-related risks and opportunities into its annual Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP). In 2023, the Bank had also significantly strengthened its ESG Policy for Lending that integrates environmental and social risk assessment into its credit appraisal for Wholesale Banking. The updated Policy now mandatorily requires scrutiny of proposals in sectors identified as hazardous, such as coal mining, thermal power and hazardous chemicals. Notably, key proposals discussed at the Boards Committee of Directors now include an assessment under the ESG Policy for Lending.

In 2023, the Bank had launched a pilot ESG Rating Model for select clients in the Wholesale Banking business vertical. The Model, developed in-house, includes more than 80 parameters across the three pillars of E, S and G and went live in March 2024 for select sectors. Notably, the Bank has also published its first ESG Risk dashboard, that has also been presented to the Boards Risk Management Committee. As part of the said dashboard, the Bank has also developed a hazard heat map for identified sectors, including its Retail Mortgages, Rural, and MSME lending verticals. Additionally, the dashboard also includes an assessment of the transition risk in sectors identified as having “high” transition risk, including iron and steel, cement, and fertilizers and agrochemicals. During the year, the Banks Risk and Wholesale Underwriting verticals participated in a two-day Climate Risk training by Indian and international experts as part of a UK Government program.

The Bank continues its focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Towards its commitment to achieve 30% representation of women in its workforce by fiscal 2027, the Bank has been actively scaling up hiring diversity across all business and support verticals while launching innovative initiatives that truly embody the Banks organizational ethos. In line with the same, in fiscal 2021, the Bank introduced “Pause for Bias” as an integral component of the induction module for new joiners. This module encourages employees to recognize and address their inherent biases. This further lays the foundation for the Banks “Gateway to Inclusion” program with its focus on ensuring everyday inclusion. By reaching out to over 16,000 people managers, the Bank ensures that every team is enriched by diverse perspectives and that diverse representation is integral to every decision-making process. The Bank established the “Women in Sales” employee resource group with a focused mission to build an ecosystem that promotes capacity building, mentoring, and holistic support. This group is driven by a core committee of 30 senior leaders and a working committee of 100 employees from across various business units and with representation of men and women from Axis group·all dedicated to elevating womens success in sales. Breaking heuristic patterns in hiring, the #HouseWorkIsWork campaign continues to champion homegrown skills as the cornerstone of its hiring strategy. Drawing interest from over 4,000 candidates, this initiative affirms that a career break should not mean a permanent pause rather a fresh start enriched with new, valuable life-taught skills. The Bank continues its effort in creating an inclusive ecosystem for employees and customers from the LGBTQIA+ community through the #ComeAsYouAre Charter, This Charter highlights progressive policies· health coverage of partners regardless of marital status or gender, to offering inclusive leave benefits for birthing parents and their partners, along with a dress code that honours each individuals self-affirmed gender identity. The Bank formalized the Pride365 employee resource group that has grown from strength to strength from 7 employees during its inception year to over 1,000 employees with representation from diverse identities in the queer spectrum. Beyond internal programs, the Bank is also furthering its external impact on DEI. The Bank actively engages with communities and with people in the corporate ecosystem to promote best practices in diversity and inclusion, thereby catalysing positive change across society at large. The Banks grass rooted effort Axis Women in Motion reached over 25,000 people from across towns, hinterlands and talukas·this program is focussed on encouraging women to build themselves as independent economic entities. Focusing on the student ecosystem, with a vision of cultivating the next generation of inclusive leaders, the Axis DE&I Curriculum on Building and Leading Inclusive Organizations was administered in 20 academic institutes, awarding certificates to over 800 students. These comprehensive sessions equip emerging leaders with the insights necessary to create and sustain inclusive environments, setting the stage for a transformative future in workplaces everywhere.

This fiscal year the Banks initiative “Axis ViBE”, (varsity of inclusive business enterprises) continued its focus on championing robust DEI practices across the broader business community and nurturing a collaborative ecosystem that values equity and inclusion. Through a series of dynamic events, this initiative reached 165 organisations.

With these initiatives, the Bank remains steadfast in its belief that every voice matters and that authentic inclusion drives innovation, excellence, and lasting success.

During the year, the Bank significantly scaled up its participation in and contribution to thought leadership and advocacy around the topics of ESG, climate change, financial inclusion, diversity, and sustainable finance, among others. The Banks senior leaders are members of key committees on these topics at FICCI, CII, IBA, MCA, among others, as well as at the market regulators including SEBI.

The Bank continues to deliver steady performance at key ESG assessment and recognition platforms. The Bank was on the FTSE4Good Index for the eighth consecutive year in 2024. The Bank maintains an ‘A Rating by MSCI ESG Ratings and is scored C in the CDP. The Bank has improved its S&P Global ESG score to 57 and has an improved ESG Risk Rating of 19.4 as of last full update - March 2025 by Sustainalytics. Axis Bank is among Top 10 constituents of S&P BSE CARBONEX Index, MSCI India ESG Leaders Index and the Nifty100 ESG Sector Leaders Index.

Employees: The Core of Axis Banks Growth Journey

At Axis Bank, our people are our greatest asset, driving the Banks long-term objectives and commitment to excellence. We continue to build an engaging and enriching environment for our employees through innovative initiatives and policies designed to foster growth, inclusion, and a high-performance culture.

Investing in Capability Building

Axis Bank remains committed to enhancing employee skills and competencies through targeted learning initiatives. In fiscal 2025, we delivered over 6 million hours of training to 100,000+ employees, leveraging over 10 distinct capability factories focused on banking knowledge and leadership development. To build a strong leadership pipeline and foster future-ready talent, we continued to invest in our flagship talent management programs - AHEAD and ASTROS. The fourth edition of AHEAD Internal commenced in March 2024 for fiscal 2025, bringing on board 40 high-potential employees who underwent an extensive induction and mentoring journey. ASTROS has been successfully launched in March 2025, expanding our commitment to developing leadership capabilities across the Bank.

Strengthening Our Cultural Foundation

The Banks culture is deeply rooted in five core values: ownership, teamwork, transparency, ethics, and customer centricity. These values serve as the guiding principles for our actions, shaping a workplace where fairness, diversity, and performance excellence thrive. With a strong network of over 2,300 Axis Value Realisers (AVRs), our culture champions drive these values across the organization. In 2024, Axis Bank was recognized once again as a Great Place to Work? certified organization, marking our fourth consecutive year of this achievement.

Elevating Internal Talent through ‘Thrive

Our internal talent mobility program, ‘Thrive, continues to empower employees by offering structured career progression opportunities. The internal job platform, Catalyst, ensures transparency and accessibility, with all internal job postings made available for at least seven days before public listing. In fiscal 2025, over 5,700 employees advanced their careers within Axis Bank through Catalyst. Furthermore, our policy linking internal job movements with promotions enabled accelerated career growth, with fast-track promotions occurring up to one year ahead of tenure-based eligibility.

Expanding Campus Hiring & Early Career Programs

The Banks structured hiring programs continue to attract top talent from premier institutions. Our flagship campus hiring initiatives include AHEAD, which recruits from Tier 1 B-schools like IIMs; Aspire, which targets talent from new IIMs and IITs; ABLe, which engages postgraduates from Tier 2 B-schools; We Lead, a specialized diversity hiring program for women leaders from premier institutes; ASA (Axis Sales Academy), a hire-train-deploy model for freshers to get a headstart into banking sales and ARISE, an open program to hire young talent from diverse disciplines, enhancing skills diversity.

Performance-Driven Culture & Recognition

Our meritocracy-driven culture was further strengthened in FY25 through enhanced Key Result Area (KRA) assessments and mid-year performance reviews. A mandatory attrition-based KRA for AVP+ leaders helped improve retention.

Through our robust recognition programs, we celebrated excellence across the Bank with several key initiatives. The Champions Awards honored 86 employees at our flagship R&R event. Through Ahead Of the Curve (AOC), we felicitated 595 managers. Our quarterly initiative, Anchors recognized everyday excellence of 3,183 employees. The OGs Program celebrated long service milestones of 7,000+ employees. Additionally, 20 retirees were honored through the Retiring with Pride program for their invaluable contributions.

Advancing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)

The Bank is steadfast in its DE&I commitment, aiming for 30% women in its workforce by 2027. Pride365, our LGBTQIA+ employee group, grew from 7 to 1,000+ members. Axis Women in Motion empowered 25,000+ women across towns and talukas to become economically independent. Our DE&I curriculum on inclusive leadership trained 800+ students across 20 academic institutes. Axis ViBE (Varsity of Inclusive Business Enterprises) engaged 165 organizations to promote equitable business practices. These efforts, both internal and external, reflect our belief that every voice matters·and that true inclusion drives innovation, excellence, and long-term impact across workplaces and society.

Prioritising Employee Well being

The Bank prioritizes employee well being through its comprehensive wellness programs. Besides one-on-one multi-modal therapy sessions, the “Wellness Sherpas” initiative provides peer-led support where employees are equipped with the tools to be emotional first aid providers. Of these, some are trained specifically on LGBTQIA+ sensitivity and are called the Pride365 Wellness Sherpas, ensuring inclusive care.

Embracing the Future of Work

Our GIG-A initiative continues to redefine workforce flexibility, with over 2,500 employees operating in remote roles. Additionally, the Bank scaled up GIG-A Freelancer, engaging 70+ professionals for niche projects with a 1:1 gender ratio. The Hybrid Work Model is now firmly established, with non-branch employees working from the office twice a week.

Conclusion

Axis Bank remains committed to fostering an inclusive, high-performance, and employee-centric workplace. Our strategic HR initiatives are designed to empower our workforce, strengthen leadership pipelines, and enhance employee well being, ensuring that Axis Bank continues to be an employer of choice in the evolving financial landscape.

The Banks subsidiaries remain central to the principle of “One Axis and have an important role to play in the Banks strategy formulated around the three vectors - Growth, Profitability and Sustainability. In a short span of time, the Bank has established subsidiaries covering a significant gamut of the financial services space, with some of them being leaders in their segments. Axis Capital continues to maintain its leadership position in the ECM segment. Axis Mutual Fund maintained its position as the fastest growing AMC amongst the Top 10 players and is now the eighth largest player with ~5% share in the industry AUM, Axis Finance has grown its AUF at 31% CAGR from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2025 while delivering healthy returns. The Bank continues to focus on further scaling up the subsidiaries so that they attain meaningful size and market share in their respective businesses. The domestic subsidiaries, collectively, reported a net profit of Rs1,768 crores in fiscal 2025. This translates into a return on investment of 46%.

Axis Capital Limited

Axis Capital, the Banks investment banking and institutional equities franchise has been the leader in equity and equity linked deals over the last decade and had another great year with highest number of transactions (44 ECM deals across IPO, QIPs, OFS and Rights Issue). Axis Capitals earning increased by 7% and contributed 9% to the total earnings of the subsidiaries.

Axis Asset Management Limited

Axis AMC, that had 12.9 million client folios as at end of 31 March, 2025 and contributed 28% to the total earnings of the subsidiaries. The Company manages 82 mutual fund schemes with a closing AUM of Rs305,717 crores as compared to closing AUM of Rs265,875 crores as on 31 March, 2024 and was ranked 8^th amongst the mutual fund Industry in India. The AUM under Axis pension fund management stood at Rs8,854 crores as on 31 March, 2025.

Axis Securities Limited

The retail brokerage firm reported 15% growth in cumulative client base to 6.36 million. Axis Securities earnings grew 39% as compared to previous period, and contributed 24% to total subsidiaries earnings. The subsidiary achieved a trading volume of Rs20,614,351 crores thereby registering a growth of 23% in fiscal 2025.

Axis Finance Limited

Axis Finance Limited, the Banks NBFC has been diversifying its loan book mix and has made significant investments to grow its retail team with the objective of becoming a consumer focused lending company. Axis Finances earning increased by 11% Y-o-Y and contributed 38% to total subsidiaries earnings. Axis Finance remains well capitalized with Capital Adequacy Ratio of 20.90%. Its asset quality metrics remain stable with net NPA of 0.37% as of 31 March, 2025.

Freecharge Payments Technologies Private Limited

Freecharge Payments Technologies Pvt Ltd continues to lead the charge in delivering innovative and scalable digital financial solutions for both retail consumers and merchants. As a strategic partner to Axis Bank, Freecharge operates as both a technology service provider and business correspondent, while steadily expanding its portfolio of merchant-centric financial products. Freecharge also has a Payment Aggregator arm, having the best in class capabilities and features, and enabling online merchants, Banks and Financial institutions to accept digital payments from their customers.

Driven by a mission to promote financial inclusion and elevate transaction efficiency, Freecharge upholds the highest standards of security and regulatory compliance. The Company has significantly strengthened its on-ground presence, now operating across 100 locations, and has introduced unsecured business loans for small and micro-businesses, along with Microfinance (MFI) loans tailored to the digitally underserved segments.

Recognized as one of the most trusted names in digital financial services, Freecharge has firmly established itself as one of the fastest scan-and-pay platforms for UPI transactions, delivering seamless and reliable payment experiences. Its UPI Gross Merchant Value (GMV) witnessed a remarkable 132% year-on-year growth, surging from Rs3,211 crores in fiscal 2024 to Rs7,461 crores in fiscal 2025.

A.TReDs Limited

A.TReDs Limited, the Banks subsidiary that was set up in partnership with M-Junction, was one of the three entities allowed by RBI to set up the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS), an electronic platform for facilitating cash flows for MSMEs. The Banks digital invoice discounting platform ‘Invoicemart has set a new benchmark by facilitating financing of MSME invoices of more than Rs180,000 crores since inception. It currently has over 47,300 participants on the platform and has e-discounted nearly 40 lakh invoices since start of its operation from July 2017.

Except for the historical information contained herein, statements in this Annual Report which contain words or phrases such as “will”, “aim”, “will likely result”, “would”, “believe”, “may”, “expect”, “will continue”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “intend”, “plan”, “contemplate”, “seek to”, “future”, “objective”, “goal”, “strategy”, “philosophy”, “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 our ability to successfully implement our strategy, future levels of non-performing loans, our growth and expansion, the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses, our provisioning policies, technological changes, investment income, cash flow projections, our exposure to market risks as well as other risks. Axis Bank Limited undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof.