Demonetisation good for economy in the long run: HDFC's Aditya Puri

HDFC Bank Managing Director (MD) Aditya Puri Sunday said the demonetisation in 2016 was a good move to boost economy in the long run, though the measure had brought hardship to the people at the initial stage.

The HDFC Bank MD also backed the Narendra Modi government's endeavour to promote digitisation in the banking system asserting that it is one of the best things to have happened in India.

"The demonetisation was a good move by the Centre, though it had brought hardship to the people initially," he said in reply to a question at a press conference here.

Puri said the demonetisation has brought more money into the financial system which will boost economy on long-term basis.

In a sudden decision on November 8, 2016, Modi had banned the currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 denominations.

On the HDFC Bank's expansion plans in the Northeast, Puri said it proposed to open 100 more branches in the region in three years to take its branch network close to 230.

As a part of this plan, it would also double the number of branches in Sikkim to 18, the HDFC MD said.

He said that the HDFC Bank had started its journey in the Northeast in 2004, and has grown rapidly since then.

As of December 31, 2018 the bank has 126 branches and 203 ATMs in the region.

The expansion plan of the HDFC Bank network will get a further boost from the 650 Common Service Centres (CSCs) to be set up in the region by the Government of India.

The CSCs run by village-level entrepreneurs will bridge the last-mile connectivity in making banking products and services available to unbanked areas.