Following a $64 billion mega-merger of HDFC twins, HDFC Bank chairman Atanu Chakraborty on Friday told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) that the private sector lender will benefit from the low cost of funds that a bank traditionally enjoys.
“As a consequence of this merger, the larger Balance Sheet of the Bank would offer to the national economy possibilities of higher credit growth, a larger bouquet of financial products and higher flows into affordable housing, agriculture, MSME etc,” Chakraborty said.
As a consequence of the merger, he said that the bank is poised to benefit from the addition of a market-leading home loan product which can now be directly offered through the bank’s large network of branches, helping a greater number of people fulfill their aspirations to be homeowners.
It will also enable the bank to offer to its wider customer base, a full suite of financial products like life insurance, general insurance, health insurance, and investment products like mutual funds, by leveraging the strength of major entities like HDFC Ergo, HDFC Life and HDFC Mutual Fund, which now come into the Bank’s fold, as a result of the merger, he said.
In FY22, the bank’s balance sheet grew 19.2% to reach Rs 24,66,081 crore while the net profit increased 19.3% to Rs 44,109 crore for the year.
Stating that the bank will continue to invest in technology and be at the forefront of the digital revolution that India is currently witnessing, he said that the company’s digital origination grew to 76% and our financial transactions digital penetration grew to 95% in FY 22-23.
In the last financial year, HDFC added 1,479 branches, including in semi-urban and rural India, taking the total branches strength to 7,821 by the year-end.
“The Bank is committed to supporting small and marginal farmers and taking its products to more villages, thus expanding coverage in rural India. Last year we reached customers in about 1.65 lakh villages, and we plan to significantly enhance our footprint in the coming years,” Chakraborty said.
