HBS Group's Worli project demonstrates how redevelopment is the way forward to handle Mumbai's space crunch and a win-win situation for developers and retailers to meet their aim of catalysing urban renewal and improving Mumbai's competitiveness.

One of the goals of publishing an Annual Report is to connect with our shareholders. Annual Reports are fast becoming an important document for the corporate world to talk to their shareholders. A strong, informative and transparent system of annual corporate reporting is of paramount importance for companies to convey the precise message. In an era where communication technology and audiences are taking massive strides, Annual Reports are getting transformed into a document which harnesses the unique capabilities of modern digital media.

A BUSINESS CASE FOR VOLUNTARY REPORTING
Annual reporting plays a central role in reiterating a company's existence. Of all the forms or ways of corporate disclosure,an annual report is the most important and vital source of information. It is the focal point of the corporate disclosure mechanism. Today, annual reports aren't simply a means of communication. They are being used as a vehicle for building and enhancing the corporate's image. In fact, a large proportion of corporate disclosures are made through annual reporting,including the company's core values, mission statement, business concept and even the social responsibility.

ICICI BANK'S ANNUAL REPORT: A CASE STUDY
ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank, strongly believes that an Annual Report is a golden opportunity to communicate directly with shareholders. The Bank has always been quite emphatic about disclosing mandatory information,increasing the quantity of information provided and introducing more accounting standards to cope with the changing societal needs. And their Annual Report reflects this well. The Annual Report is been an innovative take on reporting facts, figures and other corporate information disclosed in an exhaustive manner. The Bank makes an attempt in making its Annual Report internationally competitive and achieve excellence in disclosure of information on economic value added. The quantitative aspect of disclosures is very high, whereas the qualitative aspect of corporate disclosure practices is also aptly considered.

THEME CONNECT
For FY2012-13, the Bank selected a central theme or tagline 'Promoting Inclusive Growth' to demonstrate how it remains focused on penetration of financial services in rural India and how this is an important pillar of inclusive growth. The theme helped the Bank spell out clearly its rural and inclusive banking strategy of rapidly expanding in the rural markets. It wishes to move towards this focus by leveraging its inherent strengths in technology and delivering its services to the unbanked and underbanked population through a multi-channel network. The Report also emphasised its support to local agriculture by presenting individual stories connecting with the theme.

CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE
The message by its Chairman K. V. Kamath clearly spelt that despite the challenges, India's economy contains the potential for sustained high growth. The Chairman gave a positive spin to India's challenging economic environment and conveyed how the entrepreneurial mind-set and aspirational energy will quickly move India back to a "high growth" path.

The Chairman also explained how the ICICI Group, under its able executive management team, continues to focus on strengthening its franchise, capitalising on new opportunities and investing in growth, while exercising prudence wherever required.

ADEQUATE DISCLOSURES
Besides the key achievements and significant ratios, the Report talks about the Bank's acute focus on operating efficiency, stressing an equal emphasis on controlling costs and generating higher revenues. It provides specifics on their retail lending growth and points out its how its strategy of balancing growth, profitability and risk management helped it make continued progress on a strategic growth path. The Report brings out the proactive role the Bank plays towards nation building and its current activities in this segment, ranging from financial inclusion to its key focus areas of education, healthcare and sustainable livelihoods.

THE DESIGN CHALLENGE
The impressive annual report design of the bank was also an attraction – with clean, professional and modern design. Keeping with the industry it belongs to, the Report was kept simple yet engaging, being beautifully and strikingly simple in concept and imagery. The Cover tends to be a template, which may be construed as lack of creativity on the part of the Design Agency. However, this has been done purposely to exude the essence of consistency and longevity – the two most important brand attributes for any Bank. Following the best practices of corporate reporting, the Report had extensive use of headings, sub-headings and captions, ensuring the reader gets the key message at a glance.