HDFC to raise Rs. 2,000 cr on pvt placement basis via bonds

Mortgage lender HDFC will raise Rs. 2,000 crore by issuing debt securities on private placement basis.

The ‘7.55 per cent HDFC, 20 February 2019’ secured redeemable non-convertible debentures will be issued on a private placement basis, HDFC said in a regulatory filing.

“The object of the issue is to augment the long-term resources of the Corporation. The proceeds of the present issue would be utilised for financing/refinancing the housing finance business requirements of the Corporation,” it said.

The issue will open on December 20 and closes the same day.

HDFC shares closed 0.28 per cent lower at Rs. 1,718.10 on BSE on 18.12.2017.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Double digit loan growth possible next year, says HDFC Bank

The banking sector has the potential to touch double-digit loan growth next year as there are signs of corporate demand picking up and other credit avenues stabilising, a top official of HDFC Bank has said.

After clocking just under 10 per cent growth for almost a year, credit expansion fell to under 5 per cent starting November 2016. Since then it has been struggling to cross the double digit mark on sustained basis due to the impact of demonetisation and the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

"The demand so far has been essentially driven by working capital and some short-term loans and, maybe, a little bit of brownfield capex but you have not had a meaningful private investment especially from the private sector to give a boost to corporate credit demand," Deputy Managing Director Paresh Sukthankar told .

The good news is that on the working capital side, given that commodity prices have moved up from the bottom, as volumes increase there would be higher demand for capital, he said.

"But till you have a further pick up in the capex related demand, you cannot expect reversal in the trend... It s been long time now for single digit loan growth for banking industry...when you go into next year if double digit loan growth possible? I think it is if some of these issues play out," he said.

A major portion of loan demand until a few months ago was met through commercial paper, bonds, foreign currency borrowings, while dependence on bank credit was less due to interest rate arbitrage.

Expressing hope of a pick up in the next couple of quarters, Sukthankar said, "I would still think that all of the factors have played out. I am not going suggesting that there is going to be huge capex demand, but share of the pie with others probably stabilising now...growth in corporate credit from now will move to banks," he said.


Source : Economic Times

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HDFC Bank increasing its term financing exposure riding on demand

HDFC Bank, India’s most valuable private sector bank, is slowly increasing its term financing exposure riding on demand for financing from the road and power transmission sector as it seeks to diversify its balance sheet.

Though working capital loans still dominate the bank’s corporate balance sheet, it is increasing looking at term loans especially refinancing opportunities, executive director Kaizad Bharucha said.

“Though 80% to 85% of our loans were working capital loans, it was not as if we were averse to term financing. But as our balance sheet has increased we have to diversify our lending as well. There are increasing opportunities in refinancing, even though private capex is yet to kick in,” Bharucha said.

Loans to companies or wholesale loans made up 46% of the bank’s loan book as of June 2017. The bank’s total advances as of June stood at Rs 5.80 lakh crore out of which 30% were term loans, up slightly from 27% a year ago, Bharucha said.

HDFC Bank is looking at opportunities especially in road projects under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) under which is a mixture of the built operate transfer (BOT) and engineering procurement and construction (EPC) models in road development. “Besides roads we also have interest in transmission. We will ultimately lend prudently and to projects in which we have seasoned with the management and know the company,” Bharucha said.

On Tuesday, HDFC Bank was ranked number one among banks in India by a annual survey of US based Greenwich Associates on the basis of interviews with CFOs and treasurers of 500 middle market and large companies.


Source : Economic Times

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Banks are not Shylocks sucking money, customers need to pay for better service: HDFC's Aditya Puri

Banks are not Shylocks bent on sucking out money from customers, but those seeking higher levels of service must be open to paying for the convenience, said Aditya Puri, MD of HDFC Bank.

India’s longest serving bank chief also said strong third-quarter GDP growth has proved demonising of demonetisation was wrong.

Scrapping all banking charges ends up subsidising the wealthy carrying out high-end transactions and reduces banks’ ability to offer services to the poor, Puri said.

“You don’t go to Oberoi Hotel and ask for Mahesh Lunch Home rates,” Aditya Puri told ET in an interview.

“We are not here to charge usury costs, let us be very clear. As you go higher up on the type of product, it is perfectly reasonable to charge. There is a segment of the population which should not becharged, which we agree with.”

Recent charges levied by banks for ATM transactions and cash deposits beyond a limit have drawn criticism, especially in case of SBI, which restored the minimum balance amount after scrapping it in 2012. Opposition to charges on use of debit and credit cards at merchants is also strong, especially after demonetisation, which has led to a surge in digital payments.

“If I have to put up the (point of sale) terminals and they have to get it free, are you saying I should also subsidise Louis Vuitton or Pantaloons or Taj Hotels? Their sales are rising, he is swiping. Why should I subsidise him?” Puri said.

Demonetisation of high-value notes is pushing digitisation of Indian banking and it has not impacted growth much, though there has been some pain in the informal sector. “Admit that the impact (of demonetisation) has not been drastic,” said Puri.

He also rubbished claims that GDP growth was overstated as impact on informal sector had not been accounted for. “Now to start saying impact on parts of the informal economy was not reflected… we are talking about this for 20 years.”


Source : Economic Times

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HDFC Bank elevates seven senior executives in bid to retain talent

HDFC Bank has elevated 7 senior executives to group heads of various businesses as it tries to groom talent and protect them from being poached by emerging rivals such as IDFC Bank and other payment banks.

India's second largest private sector bank has elevated Parag Rao, who heads the bank's card payments and merchant acquiring business, Nitin Chugh who is in charge of the bank's Digital Banking services, Nirav Shah who handles the SME portfolio, and Ravi Narayanan who helms the bank's branch banking vertical.

Others who have been promoted are Ashok Khanna who is the head of the auto loan division, Ashima Bhat who is currently part of the finance team, and Munish Mittal, the Chief Technology officer of the bank. HDFC Bank will now have 19 executives as part of its senior management team. HDFC Bank had seen three senior level exits in August this year, when Biju Pillai, Amit Kumar and Birendra Sahu quit to lead IDFC Bank's personal and business banking divisions.

The bank had also elevated Dhiraj Relli to head of HDFC Securities and Aseem Dhru as group head -business banking, rural, commodity and agri-lending businesses in June this year.

Although the bank has re vealed very little about its succession planning or management roles for senior staff, experts believe these promotions follow the entry of potential banking companies which are scou ting for experienced and proven bankers.

In December 2013, HDFC Bank had elevated its long time second-in-command Paresh Sukthankar as deputy managing director, a move that was interpreted as improving Sukthankar's chances of succeeding Aditya Puri as MD and CEO of India's most valuable bank.

Other private sector banks like ICICI and Axis Bank ha ve also faced the brunt of employee attrition after the launch of IDFC, Bandhan and several payments banks. Some bankers point out that the ability to retain talent has been the lowest in years with new entrants of fering generous pay hikes to employees especially at the junior and middle manage ment level.




Source : Economic Times

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HDFC Bank suspends official involved in Bank of Baroda scam

Amid the alleged involvement of HDFC Bank official Kamal Kalra in the Rs. 6,000-crore illegal remittances, the private sector bank has suspended Kalra pending the investigation.

The scam involves Rs. 6,000 crore illegal remittances that have suspected to be flown out from Bank of Baroda's Ashok Vihar branch in New Delhi to Hong Kong and Dubai.

In a statement, HDFC Bank said, “The bank has a zero-tolerance policy for any misconduct on the part of its staff and any deviation from its clearly defined processes is viewed very seriously. Swift action is taken both at an organizational and employee level, and as per process the employee in question has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.”

”In response to reports relating to investigations against one of our employees, we would like to state that the matter is being examined internally on top priority. The Bank is also extending its full cooperation and support to the authorities as they conduct their investigations,” the statement further adds.

As per the investigation so far, both Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate have arrested six persons including Kalra, who is HDFC Bank’s Forex Sales Manager in the forex department, for the alleged money laundering.

While CBI arrested Suresh Kumar Garg, the assistant general manager of Ashok Vihar Branch and Jainis Dubey, the foreign exchange head, the persons arrested by the Enforcement Directorate include Kamal Kalra, Chandan Bhatia, Gurucharan Singh and Sanjay Aggarwal, who were allegedly involved in the transaction of 15 accounts.

Bhatia, Singh and Aggarwal are said to be owners of companies based in Hong Kong and Dubai towards which the money was being transferred through 59 accounts at the bank's Ashok Vihar branch.

Meanwhile, Bank of Baroda’s internal investigation had detected irregularities in foreign exchange transfers from said branch and also suspended five officers. The public sector bank has also changed the concurrent auditor firm of the specific branch.

“The investigation currently underway pertains to 59 current accounts, which were opened during the period between May 13, 2014 to June 20, 2015 and were used for outward foreign remittance transactions aggregating to $576 million (Rs 3,672.30 crore) predominantly for the purpose as “Advance remittance for imports” to overseas parties numbering about 418, mainly based in Hong Kong,” Bank of Baroda had said on Tuesday.

“It is pertinent to note that less than 10 per cent (Rs 343 crore) of the amount involved had been deposited in these accounts by way of cash and balance 90 per cent amount had been received through RTGS / NEFT from 51 different banks. Bank would also like to clarify that while the investigations are underway, at the current stage, it does not envisage significant financial losses on account of this incident,” it added.

There are many unanswered questions which continue to be probed, such as opening of current accounts in spite of inconclusive KYC process in some cases, individual failure of detection of irregularities, non-follow up of system alerts to track exceptional transactions and reasons for the long lead time to identify these irregularities.

The newly appointed MD & CEO, P.S. Jayakumar said, “My utmost priority is to examine the current situation and bring about the necessary changes within the bank to ensure such unfortunate incidents do not recur. This will include the appointment of an external accounting firm for full review of our KYC norms and its effectiveness across all branches…”


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC mobilises Rs. 10,400 cr; NCDs, warrants list at big premium

In two highly successful offerings, mortgage giant HDFC Ltd has raised Rs. 5,000 crore from low— cost non convertible debentures (NCDs) and a further amount of about Rs. 5,400 crore would come in from warrants, both of which got listed with a huge premium today.

“Total amount we have received is Rs. 5,051 crore, including Rs. 5,000 crore from the NCD and Rs. 51 crore is the face value of the warrants, which on conversion will get us an additional Rs. 5,384 crore,” HDFC Vice Chairman and CEO Keki Mistry told reporters here.

Mistry said money raised through NCD issue will be deployed for regular lending purposes while the conversion of warrants will beef—up the capital, which is currently at “reasonably comfortable” levels in the future.

“The advantage of this instrument is that it gives us the ability to generate money today and generate capital at a future date,” Mistry said, adding that the need for capital can be necessitated due to a variety of reasons including balance sheet growth and also maintaining its stake in HDFC Bank.

The NCDs were offered at a coupon rate of 1.43 per cent, but were trading at 8.54 per cent in the debut trade today.

Similarly, the warrants generated total volumes of over three crore in the first day of trade on the BSE and the NSE.

As against the issue price of Rs. 14, the warrants were listed at a discovered price of Rs. 146.05 and closed at the upper circuit of 10 per cent at Rs. 160.65 at the two bourses.

The warrants also generated huge unsatisfied demand as they were locked in upper circuit.

Mistry said the NCD issue, which saw sale of 5,000 secured NCDs of the face value of Rs. 1 crore each, comes at a coupon of 1.43 per cent.

It issued 3.65 crore warrants at Rs. 14 per warrant, and the warrant holder has the right to exchange one warrant for one equity share of the company in the next three years at a pre—agreed price of Rs. 1,475.

The conversion price of Rs. 1,475 is a 25 per cent premium over the floor price as on September 30, determined by a formula announced by SEBI, he said.

Assuming all the warrant holders convert into equity, the dilution in the stock will not be over 2.2 per cent, he said.

Both the NCDs as well as the warrants were issued to qualified institutional buyers domestically, the company said, adding that the NCDs have been listed on both BSE and NSE.

HDFC’s scrip closed 0.17 per cent higher at Rs. 1,258.10 apiece on the BSE, as against a 0.55 per cent gains in the benchmark.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC cuts home loan rates to 9.65%

After big banks cutting base rate, housing finance company HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation) has cut its retail prime lending rate by 25 basis points with the effective home loan rate at 9.65 per cent.

The effective home loan rates for new customers would be 9.65 per cent pa and for women will be 5 basis points lower at 9.60% pa, HDFC said in a statement.

Effective from October 06, this reduction would benefit all customers, it added.

At present, SBI stands at the lowest base rate of 9.30 per cent. However, effective home loan rates stand at 9.50 per cent. ICICI bank and HDFC bank’s base rate are at 9.35 per cent each, while Axis Bank’s base rate stands at 9.50 per cent.

Recently, HDFC also reduced its deposit rates in similar range across all maturities.

The reduction in the rates will also be applicable on loans to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)/ PIO's card holders.

Top banks responded to the RBI’s key policy rate cut by passing on the benefit to customers in the range of 20-40 bps.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC Bank unveils banking application for Apple Watch

HDFC Bank, the country’s second largest private sector bank, unveiled its banking application for Apple Watch that allows its customers to view their account summaries, block cards and recharge their mobile phones and DTH connections.

The Apple Watch app will work when paired via Bluetooth with its mobile application on iPhone 5 and above versions. HDFC Bank said that it is developing a wearables application for the Android operating system by this year.

Customers will be allowed about 10 kinds of transactions including account information on savings, current, fixed deposits, demat accounts, mutual funds and credit cards, mobile and DTH recharge, request account statements and cheque books, locate the closest ATM and bank branch, view messages from the bank and discount offers and hotlist lost debit cards, said Nitin Chugh, Senior Executive Vice President and Head - Digital Banking, HDFC Bank.

The bank plans to allow payment of bills through active notifications, offers based on location and payment of pre-added bills soon.

Currently, HDFC Bank provides over 150 banking transactions through its net banking platform and about 80 transactions through mobile banking.

The private bank said that the Apple Watch application is merely a projection of the mobile banking app and works in conjunction with it. Customers will have to create a customised Watch banking PIN on the mobile app to access the account on the Apple Watch.

As a security feature, the user’s session logs out automatically after inactivity of about 5 minutes.

Rival ICICI Bank earlier in April announced its application for wearables. Called iWear, ICICI Bank’s wearables app is available for Android, Apple and Tizen devices.

The application is live on the Apple Store and can be downloaded by anyone who has an Apple Watch, which will be soon launched in India.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC Bank launches mobile app for trade finance transactions

HDFC Bank will provide trade finance transactions on the mobile phone for wholesale banking clients. The country’s second largest private sector bank hopes to push its wholesale business growth in sync with the economy and has launched the ‘Trade Finance on Mobile’ application.

The app provides end-to-end digitisation of trade finance transactions, including the last mile authorisation of these transactions.

“The on-the-go executives and senior officials, who are largely on-field and travelling, can authorise as and where they are present. In 2014, we started offering payment products such as RTGS, NEFT and fund transfer on the mobile for the wholesale banking clients. This is the first time in the industry that trade finance has moved on mobile,” said Bhavesh Zaveri, Country head – Operations, Cash management products, HDFC Bank.

The product offering involves facilitating mobile authorisation of letter of credit, bill processing, bank guarantees, buyer’s credit and pre-and post shipment transactions, which are online and real time.

“It is a unique offering that gives the ability to navigate and provide flexibility to the executives to validate it and get the process going on a real-time basis. So, it reduces the time from half a day or so to an hour or so…We expect the mobile transactions to jump into thousands in the next three-six,” Zaveri added. Broadly, the bank’s wholesale segment includes funding, trade financing (including LC, ECB, buyer’s credit) and domestic cash management.

At present, the ratio of the customer revenue mix from wholesale to retail is at 42:58. The wholesale banking business has been growing at an average of about 12 per cent per annum.

In the month of March 2015, HDFC Bank recorded transactions worth Rs6,031 crore on the mobile banking platform, while for the entire banking system the transaction value stood at Rs16,914 crore, according to the RBI data.

Currently, the number of transactions a year through trade finance is about 2 million and the average wholesale banking business has been growing at about 10-12 per cent.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC Bank launches medical prepaid card

HDFC Bank, the country’s second largest private lender, launched medical benefits prepaid card for corporates to disburse medical benefits to their employees.

HDFC Bank has partnered with Apollo Hospitals for this prepaid product that allows corporates to load the specified allowance onto the card each month, which can be used by employees for medical expenditure at pan-India VISA/ MasterCard outlets, the bank said in a statement.

The card also offers employees access to a wide range of additional benefits such as free accidental insurance of Rs. 3 lakh, complimentary ambulance services at select hospitals and offers and discounts at Apollo Network.

“This card offers an easy and convenient way for corporates to save costs and eliminate administrative issues while disbursing medical allowances," said Parag Rao, Senior Executive Vice President & Business Head, Cards Payment Products.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC Bank hikes e-funds transfer charges

HDFC Bank customers will now have to pay almost 43 per cent more for sending up to Rs.10,000 using the instant real time inter-bank electronic fund transfer service — Immediate Payment Service (IMPS).

India’s second largest private sector bank has upped the service charge for sending up to Rs.10,000 from Rs.3.50 to Rs.5 with effect from May 15.

Unchanged brackets

This charge is excluding taxes. The bank has, however, left the service charges for the remaining two slabs – Rs.10,001 to Rs.1 lakh (service charge: Rs.5) and Rs.1,00,001 to Rs.2 lakh (Rs.15) – unchanged.

The IMPS was rolled out by the National Payments Corporation of India in collaboration with member banks in 2010.

It allows customers to make instant, 24x7, interbank payments to individuals, or merchants/enterprises via mobile phone and other channels (Internet or ATM).

They can also receive money through this mechanism from anyone else in a participating bank.

Usually, the transaction volumes in the up to Rs.10,000 slab are very high.

Hence, HDFC Bank will be able to earn more by way of service charges, said a senior banker.

ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, had raised the IMPS charges for sending up to Rs.10,000 from Rs.2.50 to Rs.5 with effect from February 10.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC net profit increases 8% to Rs. 1,862 cr in Q4; to pay Rs. 13/share final

HDFC Ltd posted an 8 per cent rise in net profit for the fourth and last quarter ended March 2015 at Rs. 1,862 crore as against a profit of Rs. 1,723 crore in the year ago quarter.

Profit including the deferred tax liability on special reserve grew 15% at Rs. 1,982 crore.

The National Housing Bank has advised housing finance companies to create a deferred tax liability on the amount transferred to special reserve as a matter of prudence.

Individual loan disbursements grew by 16 per cent during the year. After adding back loans worth Rs. 8,249 crore sold in during the year (Rs 5,000 sold in Q4FY15), the individual book grew by 23%.

The average size of individual loans stood at Rs. 23.3 lakh as against Rs. 22.1 lakh in the previous year.

“The growth was in line with the December quarter. Further, the non-individual lending segment saw some pick-up as indicated earlier,” said Keki Mistry, Vice-Chairman and CEO, HDFC.

The ratio of individual to non-individual segment improved to 78:22 from 85:15 last year.

Net interest margin declined marginally to 4% from 4.06% a year ago.

Gross non-performing loans reduced a tad to 0.67% of the loan portfolio as at March 31, 2015 compared to 0.69% in the previous year.

As on March end 2015, the total loan book outstanding increased by 13% to Rs. 2.54 lakh crore as against Rs. 2.25 lakh crore as of March last year.

Full Year

For the full year April-March period, HDFC posted a 10% growth in the standalone profit at Rs. 5,990 crore in FY15 as compared with Rs. 5,440 crore in FY14.

Profit excluding the impact of deferred tax liability on special reserve grew 17% Rs. 6,355 crore for FY15.

On a consolidated basis, the profit growth was at 15% to Rs. 8,732 crore for the year ended March 31, 2015 after adjustment for redemption premium on Zero Coupon Debentures and impact of Deferred Tax Liability on Special Reserve.

The board of HDFC recommended a final dividend of Rs. 13 per equity share of face value Rs. 2 per share.

HDFC Ltd scrip ended down 2.34 per cent or Rs. 28.75 at Rs. 1,199 on Wednesday.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC cuts home loan rates by 20 bps to 9.9%

HDFC, country’s leading housing finance firm, reduced its home loan rate by 20 bps to 9.9 per cent on Friday. The rate cut will benefit its new and existing borrowers in the form of lower EMIs (equated monthly instalments).

Housing Development Finance Corporation or HDFC’s move comes two days after the RBI announced a status quo in its monetary policy review and Governor Raghuram Rajan prodded banks and lending institutions to pass on the previous two policy rate cuts effect since January this year.

The company said the reduction in the RPLR will also be applicable on loans to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC Bank plans to open 200 branches in Kerala in next 2 years

HDFC Bank is looking at opening 200 branches across Kerala in the next two years as part of its efforts to support inclusive growth.

Dhiraj Relli, Branch Banking Head, who was here to open the 150th branch in Kochi on Thursday, said that 70 per cent of the bank’s branches in the State are in rural and semi urban areas to ensure greater participation of people in the banking system.

“Our objective is to empower more people in Kerala, by offering them our full range of banking services, including digital initiatives thus making a difference in their lives,” he told reporters after the official inauguration of the branch in suburban Kakkanad.

Asked why the bank is focusing on rural centres, he said the board has approved a policy to take 10 million households into the formal banking fold and for this reason, the bank is reaching out to rural and semi urban areas across the country.

HDFC Bank, he said, has rapidly expanded its branch network in Kerala in the past five years, as its operations in the State had started in July 1997. With a CD ratio of 112 per cent, the bank has garnered a total business of ₹16,000 crore from the State as on December 31, 2014.

According to S S Jayasankar, Zonal Head, the bank is expanding into deeper geographies with more than 75+ transactions now available on mobile under its ‘Go Digital’ campaign initiatives.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC Bank to raise Rs 10,000 crore this week via QIPs and ADRs: Sources

HDFC Bank, India's largest private sector lender by market capitalisation, is set to raise Rs 10,000 crore sometime this week through a combination of qualified institutional placements (QIPs) in the domestic market and a follow-on offering of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) in the US, two people familiar with the proposal told ET.

A successful issue would create a record of sorts with Indian companies raising more than Rs 32,000 crore in just a week. Last week, the government raised Rs 22,500 crore by selling a 10% stake in Coal India Limited as part of its disinvestment programme

On Monday, HDFC Bank rose marginally to close at Rs 1,082.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Is there that much appetite for Indian paper in the market? Yes, seems to be the answer.

"Though a substantial portion of the Coal India issue was subscribed by state-run financial institutions, foreign investors are extremely bullish to invest in quality Indian companies at the right price," said the managing director of a leading foreign bank's local unit, not wanting to be named. He's not part of the HDFC Bank transaction.

HDFC Bank to raise Rs 10,000 crore this week via QIPs and ADRs: Sources"This would possibly be one of the largest follow-on offerings from a private sector institution," he said. HDFC Bank is looking to enter the market at the earliest so that its plans are not complicated by the remainder of the government's fund-raising plan for the fiscal year. Given current indications, the government may launch another share sale any time this week or the next. "The government is fully ready to launch a 5% share sale in Power Finance Corp and Rural Electrification Corp any time. The PFC issue would be worthRs 1,900 crore while REC would be about Rs 1,600 crore," said the banker.

Last week, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared HDFC Bank's proposal to increase foreign ownership to the maximum permissible limit of 74% of total paid-up capital. The bank has been looking to raise Rs 10,000 crore for more than a year but delays in regulatory approvals have kept it from the market. Most of the money will be raised through overseas share sales, said one of the persons cited above

"Out of Rs 10,000 crore, the bank will raise 74% through ADRs in the US market and the balance amount will be raised from the domestic market through the QIP route," the person said. The bank's ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) won't be allowed to participate in the domestic issue "as it would result in breaching the sectoral cap", said the second person. In response to emailed queries, an HDFC Bank spokesperson referred ET to a clarification issued by it on Sunday to the stock exchanges. "The mode of capital raising, the timing and type of issuance, i.e. domestic or international, will be decided by the board of directors of the bank/special committee of the board at an appropriate time subject to receipt of necessary approvals, market conditions and other considerations," the statement read.

"This is all that we have on the matter at this juncture," the spokesperson added. The bank is waiting for the communication allowing the increase in foreign investment to 74%, said one of those aware of the plan. "The government has made the announcement but the bank is yet to receive a formal letter," said the person."Once the letter is received, the bank will simultaneously launch the QIP in the domestic market and the ADR issue in the US," the other person said.

"The aim is to launch the issue either on Wednesday or Thursday." After foreign ownership in HDFC Bank crossed 49%, the RBI stopped purchases of its stock by overseas investors in December 2013. Overseas investment up to this level is allowed in private banks through the automatic route and any subsequent increase has to be approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. Subsequently, HDFC Bank moved a proposal to raise the overseas investment limit to 67.55% from 49% but this stalled after RBI, the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and the finance ministry's Department of Economic Affairs felt the overseas holding in the bank was already over the limit sought by the bank.

This stemmed from a 2009 foreign direct investment policy guideline that said investment by a company that's majority foreignowned or foreign-controlled in an Indian entity would be considered as foreign investment. This guideline made parent HDFC, which has more than 50% of its equity held by overseas investors, a foreign-owned company and its 22.5% stake in HDFC Bank was counted as an overseas investment.

Source : Economic Times

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HDFC Q3 profit up 12% on good demand in small towns

Housing Development Finance Corporation has posted a 12 per cent growth in its third quarter net profit aided by higher demand for home loans in the tier - II and tier - III towns.

In the three month period ended December 31, 2014, the Mumbai-based HDFC posted a net profit of Rs. 1,425 crore against Rs. 1,277 crore a year earlier.

Total income was up 14 per cent at Rs. 6,871 crore.

As at December 31, 2014, the loan book stood at Rs. 2,19,951 crore as against Rs. 1,92,284 crore as at December 31, 2013, the company said in a statement.

Most of HDFC’s small-sized peers also posted net profit growth in double digits driven by higher demand for home loans from customers in an under-penetrated home loan market.

Indiabulls Housing Finance and Dewan Housing Finance Limited posted a net profit growth of 21 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. LIC Housing Finance Limited, however, posted only a 6 per cent net profit growth.

Mortgage to GDP penetration in India continues to be among the lowest in the world. It currently stands at a mere 9 per cent of GDP in India compared to about 80 per cent in major developed markets.

This, despite the fact that housing being one of the major requirements in the country. There is an estimated shortfall of 21 million houses in the country, majority of them (about 19 million) in the lower income group (LIG) segment.

The LIG segment remains largely outside the purview of housing finance loans from mainstream financiers, including banks, because this segment often lack the “required” documentation to get such loans.

Shares of the company closed down 2.61 per cent at Rs. 1,309.55 per share on the BSE.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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HDFC Bank launches 11 toll-free numbers to cater to 32 nations

HDFC Bank has launched 11 international toll-free numbers to cater to 32 countries for phone-banking assistance for its pre-loaded forex card users as part of customer convenience initiative.

The private sector lender on an average issues 12,000 pre-loaded forex card every month. The card can be issued in 18 different currencies including Euro, Yen, Pound, Dollar, South African Rand and Oman Riyal.

"The toll-free numbers are intended to provide enhanced convenience and accessibility for customer travelling overseas with our pre-loaded forex card," HDFC Bank senior executive vice president Parag Rao said.

The business of issuance of such cards are growing at 25 per cent year on year, he said, adding that the bank offers following services such as balance enquiry, statement request, activating back-up card etc.

One toll-free number would cover 22 nations while remaining numbers are for 10 different nations including the USA, UAE and Singapore.

Customers can also get their recharge done through phone-banking, he added.

Source : Economic Times

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HDFC Bank among world's 50 most valued banks in 2014

HDFC Bank is the lone Indian entity among the world's 50 most valued lenders in 2014 with a market capitalisation of close to $41 billion.

Ranked at the 45th position, the private sector bank is ahead of global majors Credit Suisse, DBS Group, and Standard Chartered with a market capitalisation of $40.58 billion.

In the top 50 list compiled by Relbanks, SBI has been ranked at 51th with market capitalisation of $36.40 while ICICI Bank with $33.42 billion is 55th.

With more than 70 million customers and over 9,000 locations and a market cap of $284.39 billion, Well Fargo of the USA is the largest bank in the world based on market capitalisation. It is the second largest bank in the US by deposits and debit cards.

Well Fargo is followed by the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China ( ICBC) with the market capitalisation of $269.70 billion. It is followed by JP Morgan Chase of again the USA with the market capitalisation of $ 233.94 billion.

Top ten banks of the world includes 4 from the USA, 4 from China and one each from the UK and Australia.

For the second quarter ended September 2014, HDFC Bank had reported a 20 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 2,381.5 crore as compared to Rs 1,982.32 crore.

However, this was the fifth consecutive quarter the private sector bank posted a sub-30 per cent increase in quarterly profits. For 37 straight quarters, the bank had posted at least 30 per cent profit growth.



Source : Economic Times

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HDFC Bank launches mobile branch in Varanasi

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency, country's second-largest private lender, HDFC Bank today launched mobile banking initiative to offer round-the-clock banking facility.

"Part of the bank's digital banking offering... 'Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein' is technology agnostic and runs on all mobile devices popular technology platforms support," said Nitin Chugh, Head-Digital Banking, HDFC Bank.

'Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein' works on both smartphones as well as the basic phones that support Internet browsing.

It is another offering from the bank's platform to provide further convenience to customers, eliminating need for accessing branch or ATM, he added.

It would also help in financial inclusion as the mobile app would help rural population connect to bank with the basic handset as villagers don't have smartphones, he said.

"For phones that do not support Internet browsing, there's sms-banking and missed-call banking... a customer needs to send a text or call a toll free number to know his account balance, get a mini statement, request a check book or detailed account statement," he added.

As of September 2014, India had over 90 crore mobile users in the country but only 4 crore mobile banking customers.

Besides fixed and recurring deposits, bill and tax payments, buying insurance and mutual funds transactions, the offering will also allow customers to buy all kinds of loans instantly.

It also offers customers location-specific promotions, offers/deals on shopping, dining, movies and entertainment.

About 55 per cent of all transactions at HDFC Bank are conducted through digital channels.

Source : Economic Times

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