The bank was incorporated in August 1994 after its erstwhile parent HDFC received an 'in principle' approval from the RBI to set up a bank in the private sector, as part of its
liberalization of the Indian banking industry,[17][18] and commenced operations in January 1995. With a market capitalization of $145 billion (as of April 2024), HDFC Bank is the third-largest company on Indian stock exchanges.[19] It is also the
sixteenth largest employer in India with nearly 1.73[20]lakhemployees.[21]
The Bank's distribution network included 8,192 branches and 20,760 ATMs (cash recyclers; cash deposit and withdrawal) spread throughout 3,836 cities and villages as of February 29, 2024. The distribution network of HDFC Ltd., which consists of 737 locations and includes 214 offices of HDFC Sales Private Limited, has been integrated into the network of the Bank.[22] HDFC Bank is now the sole private bank operating in the Union Territory after opening a branch on
Kavaratti Island in
Lakshadweep.[23]
Products and services
HDFC Bank provides a number of products and services including
wholesale banking,
retail banking, treasury, auto loans, two-wheeler loans,
personal loans, loans against property, consumer durable loan, lifestyle loan and
credit cards. Along with this various digital products are Payzapp and SmartBUY.[24]
In 2008,
Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP) was acquired by HDFC Bank. HDFC Bank's board approved the acquisition of CBoP for
₹95.10 billion in one of the largest mergers in the financial sector in India.[27]
In 2021, the bank acquired a 9.99% stake in FERBINE, an entity promoted by
Tata Group, to operate a pan-India umbrella entity for retail payment systems, similar to the
National Payments Corporation of India.[28]
In September 2021, the bank partnered with
Paytm to launch a range of credit cards powered by
Visa.[29]
On 4 April 2022, HDFC Bank announced a merger with the
Housing Development Finance Corporation.[30] Upon the completion of the merger, HDFC became the fourth-largest bank in the world by market capitalization.[31] The effective date of the merger was set to be 1 July 2023. After the merger takes place, HDFC, a housing financing corporation, will transfer its home loan portfolio to HDFC Bank. Also, the bank is giving home financing company depositors the choice of either withdrawing their money or renewing their deposits with the private sector bank at the interest rate that the bank is currently offering.[32]
Investments
In March 2020,
Housing Development Finance Corporation, parent company of HDFC Bank, made a mandated investment of ₹10 billion in
Yes Bank.[33] As per the scheme of reconstruction of Yes Bank, 75% of the total investment by the corporation would be locked in for three years. On 14 March, Yes Bank allotted 100 crore shares of the face value of ₹2 each for consideration of ₹10 per share (including ₹8 premium) to the corporation, aggregating to 7.97 percent of the post-issue equity share capital of Yes Bank.[34]
HDFC Bank's Parivartan initiative spent ₹535 crore in FY 2019–20.[39]
HDFC Bank spent ₹6349.1 million towards Parivartan, in FY 2020-21. Out of ₹6349 million, over ₹1.10 billion was allocated and used towards initiatives focused on
COVID-19 relief.[40]
On 2 December 2020, the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered HDFC Bank to temporarily halt the issuance of new credit cards and all planned activities under the bank's Digital 2.0 program, citing incidents of outages in the bank's internet banking, mobile banking and payment utility services.[41][42]
On 29 January 2020, RBI imposed a monetary penalty on HDFC Bank for failure to undertake ongoing due diligence in case of 39 current accounts opened for bidding in the
initial public offer.[43]
A HDFC Bank manager was arrested on charges of fraud, involving a sum of ₹5941,000 in
Odisha.[44]
Altico Capital and
Dubai's
Mashreq Bank have approached RBI, accusing HDFC Bank of violating regulatory provisions by debiting part of the funds the company had raised through external commercial borrowing (ECB) and parked at the bank. They claimed that HDFC bank's decision to transfer money from the account may be a violation of the RBI's end-use rule.[45]
On 27 May 2021, RBI imposed a penalty of ₹100 million on HDFC Bank for deficiencies in regulatory compliances with regard to its auto loan portfolio. The said penalty was imposed with regard to the contraventions of certain provisions of the
Banking Regulation Act, 1949.[46]
In March 2023,
HDB Financial Services suffered a breach exposing the data of more than 70 million customers, including email addresses, names, dates of birth, phone numbers, genders, post codes and loan information belonging to the customers.[47]
Awards and recognition
2016
Best Banking Performer, India in 2016 by Global Brands Magazine Award.[48]
Best Performing Branch in
Microfinance among private sector banks by NABARD, 2016, Award for Best Performance in Microfinance[49]
KPMG study of India's Best Banks, Bank of the year & best
digital banking initiative award 2016[50]
BrandZ Rankings, Most Valued brand in India for third successive year[51]
FinanceAsia poll on Asia's Best Companies 2015, Best managed public company – India[52]
J. P. Morgan Quality Recognition Award, Best in class straight-through processing rates[53]
Best Bank: New Private Sector – FE Best Bank awards[54]
Winner in Innovation and Inclusiveness in Priority Sector Lending – 11th Inclusive Finance India Awards (IFI) 2019[55]
Ranked 1st in 2019 BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands HDFC Bank was featured for the 6th consecutive year.[56]
Among The Most Honored Company List, Institutional Investor All-Asia (ex-Japan) Executive Team 2019 survey[57]
India's Best Bank, Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2019[58]
Bank of the Year and Best Large Bank, Business Today – Money Today Financial Awards 2019[59]
Best Bank in India 2019, by Global magazine FinanceAsia.[60]
Ranked 60th in 2019 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands[61] HDFC Bank was featured BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2019 for the 5th consecutive year. The Bank's brand value has gone up from $20.87 billion in 2018 to $22.70 billion in 2019.[citation needed]
Best Large Bank & Fastest Growing Large Bank in 2019, by Business World Magna Awards[62]
On 12 January 2022 HDFC BANK has been adjudged 'Best Private Bank in India' at the Global Private Banking Awards 2021, Organised by Professional Wealth Management (PWM)
2022
Best Bank In India: Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2022[65]
^"RBI releases 2022 list of Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs)". rbi.org.in. RBI. 2 January 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023. State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank continue to be identified as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), under the same bucketing structure as in the 2021 list of D-SIBs.
^"HDFC Bank Ltd"(PDF). careratings.com. CARE Ratings. 2 May 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023. The Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) was among the first institutions to receive an 'in principle' approval from RBI to set up a bank in the private sector, as part of the RBI's liberalization of the Indian banking industry in 1994. The bank was incorporated in August 1994 in the name of 'HDFC Bank Limited' (HBL), with its registered office in Mumbai, India.
^"livemint". HDFC Bank is still India's most valuable brand: Brandz ranking. 22 September 2016.
Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.