HDFC Bank Limited is an Indian banking and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. It is the fifth largest bank in India by assets, incorporated in 1994. It is the largest private sector
bank in India by market capitalization as of 24 February 2014. As on Jan 2 2014, the market cap value of
HDFC was around US$26.88 billion, as compared to Credit Suisse Group with US$47.63 billion. The bank
was promoted by the Housing Development Finance Corporation, a premier housing finance company (set up
in 1977) of India. According to the Brand Trust Report 2014, HDFC was ranked 32nd among India's most
trusted brands. As of 31 March 2013, the bank had assets of INR 4.08 trillion. For the fiscal year 2012-13, the
bank has reported net profit of INR 69 billion, up 31% from the previous fiscal year. Its customer base stood at
28.7 million customers on 31 March 2013.
Company Profile
Established in 1977
Founder: Mr. H. T. Parekh
Current Turnover: Rs. 3.02 trillion
No of employees: 1700
Chairman: Mr. Deepak Parekh
Primary Objective: Promoting homeownership by providing long-term finance to households.
Business Objectives
PRODUCTS
HDFC Bank offers the following core products:
NRI banking
SME banking
Business Financing
Trade Services
Payments & Collections
Cards
Wholesale banking
HDFC offers Wholesale Banking for Corporates and Financial Institutions & Trusts. The Bank also provides
services such as Investment Banking and other services in the Government sector.
SERVICES
Wholesale banking services
HDFC Bank provides a range of commercial and transactional banking services, including working capital
finance, trade services, transactional services, cash management, etc. to large, small and mid-sized corporates
and agriculture-based businesses in India. The bank is also a leading provider of these services to its 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). The bank also issues the MasterCard Maestro debit card. The Bank launched its credit card business
in late 2001. By the end of June 2013, it had a credit card base of 5.94 million. By March 2012, the bank had a
total card base (debit and credit cards) of over 19.7 million. The Bank is also one of the leading players in the
"merchant acquiring" business with over 240,000 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
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.
OPERATIONS
As of 30 September 2013, HDFC Bank has 3,251 branches and 11,177 ATMs, in 2,022 cities in India, and all
branches of the bank are linked on an online real-time basis. The Bank has overseas branch operations in
Bahrain and Hong Kong.
HDFC Bank has two subsidiaries:
HDB Financial Services Limited (HDBFS)
HDBFS is engaged in retail asset financing. It is a non-deposit taking non-bank finance company (NBFC).
Apart from lending to individuals, the company grants loans to micro, small and medium business enterprises.
It also runs call centres for collection services to the HDFC Banks retail loan products. HDFC Bank holds
97.4% shares in HDBFS. As of March 31, 2013, HDBFS has 230 branches in 184 cities. During the FY 201213, HDBFS had turnover of INR 9.6 billion and profit after tax of INR 1 billion. It has 6,404 employees as of
31 March 2013.
HDFC Securities Limited (HSL)
HSL is engaged in stock broking. As of March 31, 2013, HDBFS has 194 branches across 150 cities. HDFC
Bank has 62.1% shareholding in HSL. During the FY 2012-13, HSL had turnover of INR 2.3 billion and profit
after tax of INR 668 million. During the year, the Company received the Best e-Brokerage Award - 2012 in
the Outlook Money Awards in the runner up category.
Shareholding
22.72%
33.61%
Individual shareholders
08.43%
Bodies Corporate
08.01%
Insurance companies
05.38%
Mutual Funds/UTI
04.34%
NRI/OCB/Others
00.40%
Financial Institutions/Banks
00.09%
ADS/GDRs
17.02%
Total
100.0%
EMPLOYEES
As of 31 March 2013, the company has 69,065 employees, out of which 12,295 are women (17.80%). In June
2013, the company reported an annual attrition rate of approx. 20%. During the financial year 2012-13, the
company incurred INR 42 billion on employee benefit expenses.
CONTROVERSIES
Money laundering allegations
On 14 March 2013 an online magazine named Cobrapost.com released video footage from Operation Red
Spider showing high-ranking officials and some employees of HDFC bank and two other leading banks,
willing to turn black money into white, a violation of Money Laundering Control Act.
Following the release of the footage, the Government of India and RBI ordered an inquiry. The banks under
question also conducted investigations of their own. HDFC appointed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to conduct a
forensic inquiry. The bank also appointed Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co (AMSS), a law
firm based in India, to investigate in association with the internal departmental inquiry, the breaches in the
banks code of conduct and ethical standards by the officials involved. On March 16, 2013, HDFC released a
statement announcing the suspension of over 20 employees involved in the videotape to ensure fair and
unbiased investigation process.
The RBI forensic investigation did not reveal any prima facie evidence for the allegations of money laundering.
Deputy Governor at RBI, K.C. Chakrabarty, said in an interview that no transactions had taken place. The
Executive Director of HDFC, Paresh Sukthankar, also confirmed that their investigations revealed the same on
April 24, 2013, The issue is being reviewed and investigated from multiple quarters. Clearly, all the
investigations have shown that there have been no instances of transactions actually taking place. Our belief is
that the existing processes seem to have worked in not allowing these transactions to happen.
However, RBI investigations revealed violations of KYC (Know Your Customer) norms, for which the three
banks were imposed penalty, with Rs. 4.5 crores imposed on HDFC.
Education
Livelihood training and support
Environmental sustainability
Employee welfare, health and well being
Employee engagement
CSR at Workplace
(a) Human Resource
The bank constantly trains and empowers its 55,752 large workforce through programs conducted by internal
and external faculty. It lists people as one of its stated core values
(b) Code of Ethics
HDFC strives for honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of
interest, full, fair, accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in the periodic reports required to be filed by
the issuer; and compliance with applicable governmental rules and regulations across all business functions.
The Bank adheres to Section 406 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and regulations framed by
the Securities and Exchange Commission of USA and other statutory and regulatory authorities in India and
USA. The code is applicable to the Managing Director (Chief Executive Officer), the Chief Financial Officer
and members of senior management of the Bank.
(c) Complaints Handling
The Bank supports a formalised system for receiving, retaining and treating complaints received, and
procedures for the confidential and anonymous submission by employees. Under this policy, employees are
encouraged to report questionable accounting matters or any fraudulent financial information provided to
shareholders, the government or the financial markets, or any conduct that results in a violation of law by the
Bank or in a substantial mismanagement of the Banks resources, to the management. HDFC also has a whistle
blower policy in place for reporting on any malpractice in the organization. 2.2 CSR at Market-place (a)
Promoting Financial Awareness In addition to providing various products and services to its clients, the Bank
believes that imparting education and training to these target segments is equally essential to ensure
transparency and create awareness. Through these programs the Bank provides credit counselling and
information on parameters like saving habits, better utilization of savings, features of savings products, credit
utilization, asset creation, insurance, income generation program etc.
CSR at Market-place
(a) Promoting Financial Awareness
In addition to providing various products and services to its clients, the Bank believes that imparting education
and training to these target segments is equally essential to ensure transparency and create awareness. Through
these programs the Bank provides credit counselling and information on parameters like saving habits, better
utilization of savings, features of savings products, credit utilization, asset creation, insurance, income
generation program etc.
HDFC and UTI together lunched an Investor Education Initiative called "Swatantra" on 5th February, 2011 in
the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The programme aimed to create investor awareness about the
various financial products and wealth generation options through mobile phones, internet tools (face book,
twitter), financial calculators and planners, and also other conventional methods. HDFC Bank utilized huge
network of rural and semi-rural branches across Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to interact with millions of
people living in rural areas to impart financial knowledge.
(b) Sustainability Reporting
The bank has engaged consultants to create an in-house capability for triple bottom line reporting, based on the
Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. This is a disclosure tool used to communicate important information
regarding the organization and its performance across social, environmental, and economic parameters to
stakeholders.
(c) Fair Practices Code
This Code is pursuant to the Guidelines issued by the National Housing Bank on Fair Practices Code for
Housing Finance Companies. Major Objectives of this code include following fair and transparent business
practices, encouraging market forces through fair competition, having cordial relations with its customers.
Fair Lending
The bank would ensure timely disbursement of loans sanctioned in conformity with the terms and conditions
governing such sanction. It would give notice of any change in the terms and conditions including interest
rates, service charges etc. The bank would not discriminate on grounds of sex, caste and religion in the matter
of lending. However, this does not preclude the bank from participating in credit-linked schemes framed for
weaker sections of society. In the matter of recovery of loans, the bank would not resort to undue harassment or
use of force.
Grievance Reddressal
In case of any grievance or complaint, the customers can contact the Grievance Redressal officer who belongs
to the specifically created Grievance Redressal Cell by HDFC.
CSR at Community
Shelter Assistance Reserve
Close to 190 social and development initiatives were supported during FY 2010-11 through the Shelter
Assistance Reserve. The overall utilisation from the Reserve stood at Rs. 8.88 crore. The segment-wise breakup of the utilisation is illustrated in the chart below
Area
Initiative
Activities
Partnering
organisati
Employee
participation
in
summer
camps,
English-speaking
paper
1
Employee
waste,
classes;
assistance
collection
in
of
academic
Volunteering
Payroll Giving
Payroll
Givingwith
program
already
has more Save The
children.
Partnership
NGO,
Save The
Children
Children
The
bank
The bank has operated various preSave
Focusing on long-term recovery initiatives
schools
in areas where drop-out rates
The
including livelihood support and school
Community
are high.
Children
rehabilitation of flood victims in Leh.
Developmen
Pre-
The
bank currently
reaches
out to to pursue Lok Kala
provide
scholarship
to children
over
9,000 education
children in Mumbai,
counsellin
higher
and alsoDelhi
learn their SagarSans
Folk
Support for vocational training to
traditional Merasi artistic legacy, with an ha n (LKSS
Arts
individuals to
aim to eradicating illiteracy, fostering
Rajasthan
enable them to have regular and
community development, and celebrating
sustainable income
cultural understanding.
Ofers non-formal vocational and
school
Arts
4
and
Sport
s
electrical
Rajasthan
d
Training
&
programs
to
the
borrowers
A public
ensure
Education
1
and
Livelihoo
d
School
Adoption
hip
that
partnership
children
in
to
municipal
Teachers
are
also
assisted
with
&
Scholars
private
material.
HDFC
Bank
is
presently
supporting
Over
1,000
children
in
Mumbai,
Preschool
counselling
of
their
counsellin
and Hyderabad.
Ofers
non-formal
vocational
and
electrical
Training
&
Bhavishya
- Yaan
Mission
to
the
borrowers
Support
The
programs
Continuing
partnership
public
private
of
for
which
aimed at running schools for tribal
children in the interiors of Maharashtra
Running
School
for Tribal
Rotary clu
(district Dahanu).
T h e school provides free education,
stay, clothing, food and medical
treatment for all students.
T h e school caters to over 300 children
upto Std.
Running
Swami
Vivekanan
supporting 10
School
for Rural
children
Empowering
has
of Diferently
care
Abled
the
in
right
and
disabled
to
education
irrespective
of
Sneha
unhealthy
newborn
babies
and
and
homes/tertiary
with
hospitals
maternity
covering
HDFC
has
been
supporting
St. Jude
the
India
on-going
Health
Services
been
Alert India
regularly
the
ongoing
activities
of
Alert-India,
Leprosy
which
Eradication
Betterme
of the
nt of
Adults
betterment
of
adults
affected
by
Environmental CSR
(a) Environmental Sustainability
HDFC Bank believes in taking responsibility for the effects of its operations in society and on the environment
and this belief embodies its approach to the reduction of carbon emissions. Taking forward this commitment
the Bank has undertaken the following projects:
1. Annual Foot-printing / Calculation of its carbon emissions
The Bank has developed and put in place a template to collate and calculate its carbon emissions on an annual
basis. This provides us with our emissions regarding travel, electricity, paper and other utilities, which then
enables us to take efforts in specific areas in order for the Bank to reduce the impact of its operations on the
environment.
2. Carbon Disclosure Project
The Bank has been associated with the carbon disclosure project since 2007, adhering to their disclosure
practices, each year they have strived to improve the quality of reporting and the number of parameters that go
into the disclosure. In the year 2010, HDFC Bank registered as a signatory to the carbon disclosure project.
3. Carbon Management Awareness
Employees are made aware of the importance of conservation of natural resources and smart resource
management techniques through various e-mailers and other communications sent out periodically.
(b) Green Initiative
In line with its commitment to green and sustainable development HDFC bank has followed green principles in
the construction of its back office premises located in Mumbai. The building core and shell has been designed
and implemented in lines with a LEED rating of 'gold'. All materials used in the construction of the interiors of
the building conform to green norms for commercial premises. The operations of the premises consume less
than one watt per square foot of space. Indoor air quality is monitored through Co2 control and sewage for the
building is treated and recycled.
Corporate Governance
The Composition of the Board of Directors of the Bank is governed by the Companies Act, 1956, the Banking
Regulation Act, 1949 and the listing requirements of the Indian Stock Exchanges where the securities issued by
the bank are listed. The Board has following ten (10) Directors as on March 31, 2011:Executive Directors
Mr.AdityaPuri:-Holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from Punjab University and is an associate member
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He has been the Managing Director of the Bank since
September 1994.
Mr. Harish Engineer:-is Science Graduate from Mumbai University and holds a Diploma in Business
Management
Mr.PareshSukthankar:-Did his Masters in Management Studies (MBA) from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute
(University of Mumbai) and the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the Harvard Business School.
Non-Executive Director
Mrs.RenuKarnad:- represents HDFC Limited on the Board of the Bank. She is a Law graduate and also holds
a Master's Degree in Economics.
Independent Directors
Mr. C. M. Vasudev: - holds a Master's Degree in Economics and Physics. He joined the Indian Administrative
Services in 1966
Mr.AshimSamanta:- holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Mumbai. He has vast
experience in the field of bulk drugs and fine chemicals.
Dr.PanditPalande:- extensive experience of working in the fields of business administration, management and
agriculture.
Mr.ParthoDatta:- appointed as an additional Director during the year. He is an associate member of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)
Mr. Bobby Parikh: - holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the Mumbai University and qualified as a
Chartered Accountant in 1987
Mr. A. N. Roy: is M.A., M.Phil. And is a distinguished retired civil servant. During his long career of 38
years in the prestigious Indian Police Service ("IPS") Various Committees of BOD
Audit and Compliance Committee
Compensation Committee
Investor Grievance (Share) Committee
Risk Policy and Monitoring Committee
Credit Approval Committee
Premises Committee
Nomination Committee
Fraud Monitoring Committee
Customer Service Committee
Competitor Analysis
HDFC
ICICI
SBI
CITIBANK
Profits(in Cr Rs)
3926
5151
7370
48760
8.8
40
80
460
% Spending on CSR
0.22
0.77
1.08
0.94
78.52
103.2
147.4
17.2 (Citibank
binding on
India)
Institutional Investor
Forbes Asia
(COMMERCIAL)
2012
DSCI Information Technology Award 2012
Economic Times
Forbes Asia
Finance Asia