HDFC Bank not interested in Ahmedabad IFC presence

Even as its peers make a beeline to open shop at the GIFT City, the country's second-largest lender HDFC Bank has said it is not keen to have a presence in the country's first international finance centre in Ahmedabad.

The Aditya Puri-led bank feels its presence in global IFCs like Dubai, Bahrain and Hong Kong is enough to take care of its overseas business.

"We are not in GIFT City, since we already have our presence in a couple of locations... We are in Hong Kong, Bahrain and the DIFC (Dubai International Finance Centre)," HDFC Bank Deputy Managing Director Paresh Sukthankar said.

A presence in specially notified international finance centres help financial institutions treat it as an overseas branch, from where they can raise resources at cheaper rates and lend in foreign currencies. The regulators issue separate regulations for operations of such financial hubs.

Banks that have evinced interest to have a presence in GIFT City, including the largest lender SBI and Bank of Baroda, already have a sizeable presence abroad and are adding to their networks. Other lenders from the private sector space which have made their plans public and are at different stages of entering the GIFT City include Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank and Federal Bank.

HDFC Bank's larger rival ICICI Bank and Axis Bank (both of whom have registered offices in Gujarat) have not commented on their plans. The GIFT City was formally launched as the country's first international finance centre in April this year.