HDFC Bank Limited is a major Indian financial services company based in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, incorporated in August 1994, after the Reserve Bank of India

Reserve Bank of India

The Reserve Bank of India is the central banking institution of India and controls the monetary policy of the rupee as well as US$300.21 billion of currency reserves. The institution was established on 1 April 1935 during the British Raj in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of...

 allowed establishing private sector banks. The Bank was promoted by the Housing Development Finance Corporation

Housing Development Finance Corporation

Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited or HDFC , founded 1977 by Hasmukhbhai Parekh, is an Indian NBFC, focusing on home mortgages. HDFC's distribution network spans 283 outlets that include 66 offices of HDFC's distribution company and HDFC Sales Private Limited.In addition, HDFC covers...

, a premier housing finance company (set up in 1977) of India. HDFC Bank has 1,986 branches and over 5,471 ATMs, in 996 cities in India, and all branches of the bank are linked on an online real-time basis. As of 30 September 2008 the bank had total assets of Rs.1006.82 billion. For the fiscal year 2010-11, the bank has reported net profit of , up 33.1% from the previous fiscal. Total annual earnings of the bank increased by 20.37% reaching at in 2010-11.

It is one of the Big Four banks of India, along with State Bank of India

State Bank of India

The State Bank of India is the largest Indian banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Mumbai, India. It is state-owned. The bank traces its ancestry to British India, through the Imperial Bank of India, to the founding in 1806 of the Bank of Calcutta, making it the oldest...

, ICICI Bank

ICICI Bank

ICICI Bank Ltd. is India's second largest financial services company headquartered in Mumbai, India. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries in the areas of...

 and Punjab National Bank

Punjab National Bank

Punjab National Bank , was founded in 1894 and is currently the second largest state-owned commercial bank in India ahead of Bank of Baroda with about 5000 branches across 764 cities. It serves over 37 million customers. The bank has been ranked 248th biggest bank in the world by the Bankers...

—its main competitors.

History

HDFC Bank was incorporated in 1994 by Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC), India's largest housing finance company. It was among the first companies to receive an 'in principle' approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a bank in the private sector. The Bank started operations as a scheduled commercial bank in January 1995 under the RBI's liberalisation policies.

Times Bank Limited (owned by Bennett, Coleman & Co. / Times Group) was merged with HDFC Bank Ltd., in 2000. This was the first merger of two private banks in India. Shareholders of Times Bank received 1 share of HDFC Bank for every 5.75 shares of Times Bank.

In 2008 HDFC Bank acquired Centurion Bank of Punjab

Centurion Bank of Punjab

The Centurion Bank of Punjab was an Indian private sector bank that provided retail and corporate banking services. It operated on a strong nationwide franchise of 403 branches and had over 5,000 employees...

 taking its total branches to more than 1,000. The amalgamated bank emerged with a base of about Rs. 1,22,000 crore and net advances of about Rs.89,000 crore. The balance sheet size of the combined entity is more than Rs. 1,63,000 crore.

Business focus

HDFC Bank deals with three key business segments. - Wholesale Banking Services, Retail Banking Services, Treasury. It has entered the banking consortia of over 50 corporates for providing working capital

Working capital

Working capital is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organization or other entity, including governmental entity. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is considered a part of operating capital. Net working capital is...

 finance, trade services, corporate finance

Corporate finance

Corporate finance is the area of finance dealing with monetary decisions that business enterprises make and the tools and analysis used to make these decisions. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize shareholder value while managing the firm's financial risks...

, and merchant banking. It is also providing sophisticated product structures in areas of foreign exchange and derivatives, money markets and debt trading and equity research.

Wholesale banking services

Blue-chip manufacturing companies in the Indian corp to small & mid-sized corporates and agri-based businesses. For these customers, the Bank provides a wide range of commercial and transactional banking services, including working capital finance, trade services, transactional services, cash management, etc. The bank is also a leading provider of for its to corporate customers, mutual funds, stock exchange members and banks.

Retail banking services

HDFC Bank was the first bank in India to launch an International Debit Card in association with VISA (VISA Electron) and issues the Mastercard Maestro debit card as well. The Bank launched its credit card business in late 2001. By March 2009, the bank had a total card base (debit and credit cards) of over 13 million. The Bank is also one of the leading players in the “merchant acquiring” business with over 70,000 Point-of-sale (POS) terminals for debit / credit cards acceptance at merchant establishments. The Bank is positioned in various net based B2C opportunities including a wide range of internet banking services for Fixed Deposits, Loans, Bill Payments, etc.

Treasury

Within this business, the bank has three main product areas - Foreign Exchange and Derivatives, Local Currency Money Market & Debt Securities, and Equities. These services are provided through the bank's Treasury team. To comply with statutory reserve requirements, the bank is required to hold 25% of its deposits in government securities. The Treasury business is responsible for managing the returns and market risk on this investment portfolio.

Distribution network

HDFC Bank is headquartered in Mumbai. The Bank has an nationwide network of 2000 branches spread in 996 towns and cities across India. All branches are linked on an online real-time basis. Customers in over 500 locations are also serviced through Telephone Banking. The Bank has a presence in all major industrial and commercial centres across the country. Being a clearing/settlement bank to various leading stock exchanges, the Bank has branches in the centres where the NSE/BSE have a member base.

The Bank also has 5,998 networked ATMs across these towns and cities. Moreover, HDFC Bank's ATM network can be accessed by all domestic and international Visa/MasterCard, Visa Electron/Maestro, Plus/Cirrus and American Express Credit/Charge cardholders.

External links