MUMBAI: HDFC Bank CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan has requested investors to be patient during the bank’s transition. He compared it to the construction of Mumbai’s coastal road, and promised that benefits would follow the transition phase.
During an investor call after the bank’s results, Jagdishan said that the bank’s goal was to ensure sustainability of its deposit franchise.However, he added that rather than using pricing to grab market share, the bank would go slow when faced with irrational pricing, such as in the fourth quarter. He also said that the average deposits per branch had increased from Rs 260 crore to Rs 270 crore after adjusting for the HDFC merger.
“Don’t dismiss this franchise, we are going through a period of transition. It is like the coastal road… when it was being built, we had all sorts of problems with it. But now when it’s up and running, people are delighted,” Jagdishan told analysts. However, he did not speak about the new digital initiatives, including the new mobile banking app that the bank had planned to launch in the previous quarter. HDFC Bank has been facing criticism from investors due to the bank’s market value remaining below the Rs 12-lakh-crore mark, compared to the Rs 12.6 lakh crore in July 2023 when the merged entity shares were traded for the first time.
On Saturday, HDFC Bank announced a net profit of Rs 16,511 crore – an increase of 37% over last year’s pre-merger gains but 0.8% lower than the preceding quarter. The bank made extraordinary gains from sale of HDFC Credila but transferred the gains to a floating provision.
During an investor call after the bank’s results, Jagdishan said that the bank’s goal was to ensure sustainability of its deposit franchise.However, he added that rather than using pricing to grab market share, the bank would go slow when faced with irrational pricing, such as in the fourth quarter. He also said that the average deposits per branch had increased from Rs 260 crore to Rs 270 crore after adjusting for the HDFC merger.
“Don’t dismiss this franchise, we are going through a period of transition. It is like the coastal road… when it was being built, we had all sorts of problems with it. But now when it’s up and running, people are delighted,” Jagdishan told analysts. However, he did not speak about the new digital initiatives, including the new mobile banking app that the bank had planned to launch in the previous quarter. HDFC Bank has been facing criticism from investors due to the bank’s market value remaining below the Rs 12-lakh-crore mark, compared to the Rs 12.6 lakh crore in July 2023 when the merged entity shares were traded for the first time.
On Saturday, HDFC Bank announced a net profit of Rs 16,511 crore – an increase of 37% over last year’s pre-merger gains but 0.8% lower than the preceding quarter. The bank made extraordinary gains from sale of HDFC Credila but transferred the gains to a floating provision.