India's No. 2 lender, ICICI Bank, expects to sustain 70 percent growth in its private wealth management business this year on the back of rising affluence, a senior official said on Monday.

In the last two years, our private banking portfolio grew by 65-70 percent. There is no reason why this growth will not be sustained this fiscal year, Anup Bagchi, head of global private banking division, told reporters.

ICICI has about 150,000 customers with investible surplus of at least one million rupees ($25,445), he said but declined to give details how much the business contributed to total revenue and profit.

Equity, real estate and private equity is driving private banking business in India, he said.

India had 100,000 millionaires by end 2006, up 21 percent from a year earlier, according to the Merrill Lynch Capgemini 2006 Asia-Pacific Wealth Report.

Some of the biggest names in the wealth management business, such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, are stepping up their private banking operations in India, where the market is estimated at around $600 billion.

($1 = 39.3 rupees)

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