Full Form of HDFC
HDFC FULL FORM
HDFC stands for Housing Development Finance Corporation. HDFC Bank Ltd is an Indian leading company that provides banking and finance services with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was among the first private sector bank that received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to be set up. As per the report of 2019, the company has a total number of permanent employees, about 104,154. On the basis of assets, HDFC Bank was India's largest private sector Bank and based on market capitalization; it was the largest Bank in India in 2020.
The Bank spent Rs.535 cores in its Parivartan initiative in FY19-20. The present chairperson of HDFC Bank is Shyamala Gopinath, and CEO is Sashidhar Jagdishan.
HISTORY
HDFC Bank Ltd was established on August 30, 1994, with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, by Hasmukhbhai Parekh. The first corporate office and a full-service branch of HDFC Bank were inaugurated at Sandoz House, Worli, by Manmohan Singh, who was then Union Finance Minister. In January 1995, the banking operations were commended as a scheduled commercial bank. The Bank was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange on 19 May 1995 and National Stock Exchange on 8 November 1995. The Bank's first retail lending product loan against shares was launched in 1998 and online real-time net banking in 1999.
In 2001, the business of credit cards was also started by the Bank. On 20 July 2001, under the symbol of HDB, the American Depository Receipts (ADR) of the Bank were listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Later in September 2003, the facility of home loan was also introduced by HDFC Bank. To its customers, the Bank started to offer a basic saving account during the year 2005-06. This account has a named no-frills account. In 2007, 19 branches were opened by the Bank in a day in Delhi/NCR. The HDFC Bank was merged with Centurion Bank of Punjab Ltd on May 23, 2008. In October 2008, the first overseas commercial branch of the Bank was opened in Bahrain. In 2016, HDFC became the first Bank to turn ATMs into Loan Dispensing Machines (LDM).
Since its establishment, the Bank is continuously establishing its distribution network. As per the data of 2019, the Bank has a large distribution network with 5,500 branches and 14,533 ATMs across 2,764 cities of the country. The Bank had a total number of about 23,570,000 debit cardholders and 12 million credit cardholders in FY 2017. In the same year, about 430,000 POS terminals were also installed by the Bank.
BUSINESSES
A very large range of commercial and investment banking services on the wholesale side, and transactional banking on the retail side are covered by the Bank. Also, some other products like Payzapp and SmartBUY are also provided by the Bank. Three major businesses of HDFC are:
- RETAIL BANKING: The Bank provides a one-stop window for all the banking requirements of the customers, which is the most important objective of retail banking. The Bank uses world-class financial products and banking services and delivers them to customers by using the growing branch network. Some alternatives channels that include ATMs, phone banking, net banking, and mobile banking are also used by the Bank.
Loans against property, auto loans, two-wheeler loans, durable consumer loans, lifestyle loans, and loans against property are some retail loan products that are provided by the Bank. For retail customers, the Bank is working as a leader in the service of Depository Participant (DP). This provides the facility of the investments in the electronic form to the customers.
In the country, an international debit card was first time launched by the HDFC Bank. It was launched in association with VISA. The HDFC Bank was also the first to issue the MasterCard Maestro debit card. The Bank had over 25 million cardholders by March 2015. The Bank is dealing in the various net-based B2C opportunities along with a wide range of internet banking services for loans, fixed deposits, bill payments, etc. The Bank is also working as a leading player in the business of merchant acquiring.
- WHOLESALE BANKING: In the target market of bank blue-chip manufacturing companies in the country’s corporate sector and lesser extent, small & mid-sized corporates along with agro-based businesses are included. For this large number of customers, a wide range of commercial and transportation services are provided by the Bank. These services also include working capital finance, transactional services, trade services, cash management, etc. A superior supply chain management is provided by the Bank to its corporate customers. Under this system of management, the cash management services are merged with distributor finance and vendor. That's why the Bank is also called the leading provider of structured solutions.
The services of proper banking solutions to various corporate customers, other banks, mutual funds, and the stock exchange members are given by the HDFC. The Bank serves as a prime company that offers the services of cash management and transactional banking solutions.
- TREASURY: In this business, there are three main product areas where the Bank serves, which include the local currency money market & debt securities, equities, and foreign exchange & derivatives. When the liberalization was introduced under the New Economic Policy 1991, it increased the need for more sophisticated information, advice, and product structures related to risk management.
Fine pricing is provided on various treasury products by the treasury team of the Bank. The Bank has to hold 25% of deposits in the government securities, which are necessary to comply with statutory reserve requirements. The returns and market risk can be easily managed with the help of this investment portfolio.
MERGES AND ACQUISITIONS
In February 2000, the Bank merged with Times Bank. It was the first time when the two private banks that belong to the category of new generation private sector banks were merged. The Times Bank was established by Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. and was commonly called The Times Group. The group was the largest media conglomerate in India.
Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP) was obtained by the HDFC Bank in 2008. The acquisition of these banks is among the list of the largest mergers related to the financial sector in the country, with a total balance of INR 95.1 billion.
INVESTMENTS
In March 2020, Rs. 1,000 crores were invested by HDFC, the parent company of HDFC Bank in Yes Bank. Under the scheme of reconstruction of Yes Bank, it was mandatory for HDFC Bank to locked in 75% of the invested amount for the next three years.
BANK'S SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES
- HDFC Securities Limited (HSL): It is one of the leading retail broking firms in the country. The Bank held a 96.6% stake in HSL as of March 31, 2020.
- HDB Financial Service Limited (HDBFSL): HDBFSL is a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) that does not accept public deposits. It offers various types of loans and assets finance products to many individuals, micro-enterprises, and emerging businesses.The Bank held a 95.3% stake in HDBFSL as of March 31, 2020.
LISTINGS AND SHAREHOLDING
The equity shares of the Bank are listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange of India. On the NYSE and Luxembourg Stock Exchange, it’s American Depository Receipts and Global Depository Receipts respectively, are listed. In LSE, two GDRs are equal to one equity share of the Bank.
The shareholders of HDFC Bank are divided among HDFC's promoter group, foreign institutional investors (FII), bodies corporate, the unit trust of India, ADS/GDRs, individual shareholders, NRI/OCB/others, insurance companies, and financial institutions/banks in different percentage.
CONTROVERSIES
On 2 December 2020, an order was passed by the RBI to HDFC Bank. Under this, the RBI ordered the Bank to terminate the issuance of new credit cards and all planned activities that are a part of the digital 2.0 program of the Bank. These planned activities include internet banking, mobile banking, and payment utility services. But this was just a temporary halt, not a permanent one.
A monetary penalty was imposed on HDFC Bank by the Reserve Bank of India on 29 January 2020. The RBI took strict action against the Bank because it failed to undertake on-going due diligence. This negligence took place with 39 current accounts that were opened for auction in the initial public offers or IPOs.
The manager of the Bank has arrested in Odisha for fraud of Rs.59.41 lakh.
According to Altico Capital and Dubai’s Mashreq Bank, HDFC Bank violated regulatory provision by debiting part of the funds which was raised by the company through external commercial borrowings (ECB). The company parked this ECB at the Bank. Both the banks approached the Reserve Bank of India against the violation of the RBI's end-use rule as HDFC Bank was transferring money from the account.
AWARDS AND HONORS
- Euromoney Awards for India's Best Bank in 2020.
- FE Best Bank Awards of 2019 as a new private sector bank.
- Euromoney Awards 2019 for becoming India’s Best Bank.
- Title of Best Bank in India by Global magazine Finance Asia, 2019.
- Business World Magna Awards for the Fastest Growing Large Bank & Best Large Bank in 2019.
- In the list of Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands, HDFC got the 1st rank by BrandZ in 2019.
- Money Today Financial Awards 2019 for Bank of the Year and Best Large Bank.
- Global Brands Magazine Award 2016 for the Best Banking Performer in India.
- J. P. Morgan Quality Recognition Award for the best performance in class straight-through processing rates in 2016.
EFFECT OF COVID-19
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, there was a considerable slowdown in the economic activities in the country and even in the world during the quarter. Furthermore, when the lockdown was initiated by the government in the latter half of March, and social distancing was a must, the company saw a huge impact on the business volumes in terms of loan organization, distribution of third party products, and the payments product activities. Along with this, the company's income was lower by Rs. 450 croresbecause the company was unable to optimize its collection efforts. Because of its GNPA decreased by 10 bps and NNPA decreased by 6 bps.