HDFC Bank completes 25 years of operations

HDFC Bank, the most valuable Indian lender, completed 25 years on Tuesday.

The bank observed the anniversary celebrations by committing to plant 25 lakh trees and also digitise 2,500 classrooms.

Its managing director and chief executive Aditya Puri, who has led the bank from scratch, planted a guava tree at a municipal school in central Mumbai, where the bank also donated its first digital classroom.

"There are no alternatives to a clean environment and smart classrooms. Both are an absolute necessity for our nation to become the global force we all want it to be," Puri said in a statement.

Puri, set to retire in October this year, is credited with developing a culture that has zero tolerance for any leniency and has helped the bank in not getting ensnared in the non-performing assets-related troubles that have afflicted the entire system.

The bank's market cap as on Tuesday's close was Rs 6.64 lakh crore as against SBI's Rs 2.83 lakh crore. SBI, the largest Indian bank by assets, had Rs 23 lakh in advances as of December as against Rs 9 lakh crore for HDFC Bank.

The bank is at present going through with a succession planning exercise for Puri.

Meanwhile, the bank also announced a tie-up with SAP Concur Solutions, and Mastercard on the corporate travel front on Tuesday, according to a statement.

Acorporate credit card has been launched to eliminate out-of-pocket cash expenses for employees and prevent fraudulent claims as part of the tie-up, it said.