HDFC Bank Group gets RBI approval to acquire 9.5% stake each in six banks

RBI's approval is valid for one year from the date of RBI's letter, i.e., till February 4, 2025

HDFC Bank Group on Tuesday announced that it has received the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) approval to acquire "aggregate holding" of up to 9.5 per cent of the paid-up share capital or voting rights in six banks. These banks include Axis Bank, Survoday Small Finance Bank, ICICI Bank, Bandhan Bank, YES Bank and IndusInd Bank.

In a regulatory filing, the Bank said, "The approvals were granted pursuant to applications made by HDFC Bank (as a promoter/sponsor of the Group) to RBI on December 18, 2023."

It added, "RBI's approval is valid for a period of one year from the date of RBI's letter, i.e., till February 4, 2025. Further, HDFC Bank shall ensure that the 'aggregate holding' in the above-mentioned banks does not exceed 9.50 per cent of the paid‐up share capital or voting rights of the respective banks, at all times."

The HDFC Bank also said that it does not intend to invest in these banks but as the holding was likely to exceed 5 per cent, under the RBI rules, it made an application to increase the investment limits.

READ: RBI approves HDFC Bank Group's proposal to acquire 9.5% in IndusInd Bank

"Further, since the RBI Directions is applicable to HDFC Bank, the Bank had made the application to RBI on behalf of the Group," it added. The HDFC Group includes HDFC Bank, HDFC Mutual Fund, HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited and others.

The announcement was also made by almost all the banks in separate regulatory filings.

In their filings, they said, "The RBI, while granting the above-referred approval, has also conveyed that if the applicant fails to acquire major shareholding within a period of one year from the date of the aforesaid RBI letter, the approval shall stand cancelled."

As of 10:45 am, YES Bank was up 9.69 per cent and was trading at Rs 25.01 apiece on BSE. ICICI Bank was up 0.3 per cent and was trading at Rs 1,027.05 apiece. 

READ: Yes Bank vaults as HDFC Bank secures RBI approval to acquire up to 9.5% stake

However, the rest three listed banks in the list were trading in the red. Axis Bank was trading 0.82 per cent in the red at Rs 1,053.8 apiece. Bandhan Bank was down nearly 1 per cent and was trading at Rs 220.7 apiece. IndusInd Bank was down over 1.5 per cent and was at Rs 1,515.55 per share.