The merger of parent HDFC with HDFC Bank will allow the larger merged entity invest more in infrastructure and mortgage projects, MD and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan said in the bank’s annual report for FY23.

He said, “A bigger balance sheet post-merger will enable HDFC Bank to take a larger exposure in infrastructure projects. This means we can participate more meaningfully in India’s growth story and contribute to nation-building. In light of all this, the pace at which we aim to grow - we could be creating a new HDFC Bank every 4 years”.

Lifelong bond

Saying that the merger perhaps could not have been timed better, Jagdishan said that the emotion linked to home buying gets transferred to the home loan service provider and helps build lifelong bonds with customers. Further, only 2 per cent of HDFC Bank’s customers currently source their loans from the bank while 5 per cent take it from other institutions, which in “itself is a huge opportunity”.

HDFC Bank will build these customer relationships by offering a bouquet of the bank’s and subsidiaries’ products and services across saving and current accounts, personal loans, insurance, investments and home loans.

“A compelling value proposition to the customer, that probably does not exist in the market at the scale at which this is envisaged. Going forward this is clearly going to be a game changer,” he said.

Growth engines for the bank will be corporate banking, commercial (MSME) and rural banking, government and institutional business, wealth management, and retail assets and payments, Jagdishan said, adding that the bank is currently the largest SME bank in the country.

Digital transformation

Focus will be on digital transformation through new platforms and customer experiences, and more efficiency by reinforcing core technologies with enhanced performance and resilience at scale.

While the bank has seen a significant improvement in resilience and uptime (basis both internal and external public sources) metrics, it is “not perfect”, Jagdishan said, adding that the bank will continue to strengthen its core IT infrastructure.

In the last few years, HDFC Bank has often faced flak for it customer-servicing technology issues and frequent tech outages, prompting RBI to temporarily bar the bank from issuing new credit cards and launching digital products in FY21. The curbs on credit cards were lifted eight months later and those on new digital launches over a year later.

“This journey has to be accelerated every year. More remains to be done and I am fully committed to improving our customer centricity further,” he said.

The bank will look to add 1,500-2,000 branches in FY24, of which 675 will be in semi-urban and rural (SURU) locations. In FY23, the bank added a record 1,479 branches, a majority of which were SURU branches.

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