Diversification, deposit growth put IDFC First ahead of Bandhan Bank

Both the banks have relied on inorganic options for growth and diversification

Bandhan Bank and IDFC First Bank marked their fifth year of operations in 2020. The interesting similarity between the two is that both took to scale through inorganic routes. Bandhan’s acquisition of Gruh Finance in 2018 brought in a housing finance portfolio and the IDFC Bank’s merger with Capital First (now called IDFC First Bank) gave it the much-needed retail facelift and also ushered organisational changes.

In five years, for the analyst community with 83 per cent polled on Bloomberg positive on Bandhan Bank, it ranks miles ahead of IDFC First Bank in terms of market acceptance and valuations. But