Hdfc Bank Projects 100% Rise In Net
HDFC Bank, which has a 20 per cent stake by NatWest Markets, has projected a 100 per cent growth in its net profit for the 1996-97 fiscal. The bank hopes to post a profit after tax of Rs 40 crore. HDFC Bank recorded a net profit of Rs 20.28 crore in 1995-96 and Rs 19.14 crore during the first half of 1996-97.
In an interview to Business Standard, Aditya Puri, managing director of HDFC Bank, who was in the city for the inauguration of its Calcutta branch, said the bank had achieved an 80 per cent penetration of its target market of the top 200 corporate houses in the country. The bank, he said, is now focussing on retail banking since we have met with tremendous success in the area of corporate banking.
HDFC Bank, which already has a network of 20 branches around the country, hopes to open eight more branches in the next five months. The branches would be at Hyderabad, Cochin, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta.
HDFC Bank is providing a full range of financial products to its target market customers, the Indian middle class. The services provided would include personalised phone banking, home banking and debit cards. While phone banking services already exist in Delhi and Mumbai, it will begin in Calcutta as soon as the bank builds up a customer base of 10,000 in the city.
Our customer base is growing at the rate of 6,000-7,000 per month. The bank is aiming for an average growth of 50-100 per cent, Puri said. Our focus is on the domestic market, so we will not be setting up any foreign branches, said Samit Ghosh, executive director of HDFC Bank.
However, the bank will use HDFCs offices in the middle-east to tap funds from NRIs. HDFC Bank will also set up three training and operational centers at Calcutta, Mumabi and Delhi which will also have branches. The training and operational center in Calcutta will be set up in Salt Lake city and will commence operations in May this year.
The bank already has a network of 20 ATMs across the country and intends to add another 20 over the next 18 months, after which it will have the largest ATM network in the country.
HDFC Bank will launch its credit card within the next two years. However, the bank does not intend to enter into any sort of tie-up for launching its card.
In the event of the bank launching an international credit card, the bank will enter into a tie-up with Nat-West Markets.