HDFC secures place amongst world’s most ethical firms

HDFC officials have a reason to smile and to be proud of as they have been listed amongst the world’s most ethical companies fro this year and most importantly it is the only firm form India that managed to secure a place in the list.

The Ethisphere Institute prepared a list of 110 organizations of the World’s Most Ethical Companies, short listing from a total of nearly 3000 companies from more than 100 countries there were nominated or that nominated themselves for the consideration.

This designation is awarded to the companies that have been following ethics and compliance programmes is far better way then the other involved in the same industry.

The CEO and Vice–Chairman of HDFC Bank Mr. Keki Mistry said “It obviously feels nice to be one of the world's most ethical company and the only one from India. HDFC is one of the most trusted brands in the country and for a financial services company it is very important that people perceive it as ethical."

HDFC Bank launches easy-to-remember phone number

To make customer care service of the bank more user friendly, HDFC Bank has launched an easy to remember phone number for the customers.

The number for the customers in Mumbai, New Delhi and NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata is 61606161 and for those in Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Kochi, Patna (Bihar and Jharkhand) the number is 6160616.

The customers can call on the new numbers for their queries and all banking needs. The bank offers this service in 9 regional languages.

HDFC Bank upgrades phone banking service

HDFC Bank yesterday announced that it has fully equipped the phone banking facility as per the guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India. In order to make transactions over phone safer the Central Bank introduced several new guidelines and instructed the banks to upgrade their systems accordingly.

According to the new guidelines, the customers will require a password generated by the bank each time they make a transaction over phone. Earlier the Reserve Bank decided January 1 as the deadline for the banks to upgrade their systems but some banks asked for more time, so the Central Bank decided February 1 as the revised deadline.

A senior bank official said "Phone banking has emerged as one of the key delivery channels at HDFC Bank .With technological advancements, it is now possible to offer single set of phone numbers across multiple locations."

HDFC forays into education sector

HDFC Bank recently forayed into the education sector. The bank inked deal with Indus World Schools. The deal is believed to be ranging somewhere between 40 to 50 crore.

The Indian schooling sector is believed to be amongst one of the fastest growing in the world. Last year the Indian market accounted for 40 percent of the total education market across the world.

Managing Director of HDFC Bank Renu Sud Karnad said “HDFC and CL have a lot to gain from this relationship. Together, we can make a significant positive impact on the quality of school education in the country.”

Indus World Schools is a unit of education company Career Launchers. Currently IWS comprises of 14 schools in total across the country. IWS also contributes to the social cause as it runs schools for underprivileged students in Andhra Pradesh and in Gujarat and Punjab through Government partnerships. The group plans to take the total number of schools to a staggering 75 in next five years.

HDFC judged as most popular bank for 2010

According to an online survey HDFC Bank was judged as the most popular bank for the year 2010. The survey was based on the number of visitors that visited the web site of the bank per day nad rakings from various ranking portals and analytical data

According to the web site 417360 visitors visited the web site of the bank per day. The largest lender of the country was judged in the fourth place according to the survey.

HDFC Bank was followed by ICICI Bank and Axis bank in the charts. With 1.32 lac visitors the State Bank of India topped the PSU segment.

Citi Bank that is in headlines these days due to the scam topped the chart in the foreign banks category. Union Bank of India was judged as most popular nationalized bank while Bank of India as most popular nationalized bank of the country.

HDFC Bank revises its BPLR by 50bps

HDFC Bank has again revised its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR). Lender has raised its BPLR by 50bps to 16.25 percent. The revised rates will be applicable from immediate effect.

Thus all BPLR-linked loans, including vehicle and personal loans, which were taken by the bank customers before July, 1 2010, will rise in respective proportions.

Under BPLR the customers can avail loans at a discounted rate to the BPLR offered by the lender. As per Reserve Bank of India’s directive from July 1, 2010 all the banks have moved to the base rate system and lending loans to the new borrowers on the base rate. HDFC has set its base rate at 7.25%.

A senior bank official said due to rising cost of funds bank has raised its BPLR. Earlier bank had raised term deposit rates across various maturity periods.

The official said, “Deposit rates in the banking system could move up further by 50-75 basis points by the end of the financial year. Depending on credit demand, base rate could also come up for review in October.”

However, in the last one month almost all the banks, including the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India and IDBI Bank have increased their BPLRs on an average by 50-75 basis points.

PNB has raised its BPLR to 11.75 per cent from 11 per cent with effect from August 1. Union Bank hiked to 12.25 per cent from 11.75 per cent with effect from August 4. SBI raised its BPLR by 50 basis points to 12.25 per cent with effect from August 17. ICICI Bank increased BPLR by 50 basis points to 16.25 per cent with effect from August 18.

All the banks have also raised their term deposit rates by 25-150 basis points across various maturity periods.

According to financial analysts, bank by rising the BPLR will be try to move the existing loan customers to the base rate. Because banks do not want to be under the burden of administering two benchmark lending rates.

HDFC’s education arm Credila to lend more this fiscal

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), educational loan unit Credila Financial Services has set a target of increasing its loan book 2.5 times in the current financial year.

HDFC, early this month acquired an additional 10 per cent with which its stake in Credila increase to 51 per cent, is planning to take control of the distribution network and customer base of HDFC Bank to expand.

Credila Country Head Prashant Bhonsle said: “We have so far disbursed over Rs 40 crore and plan to reach Rs 100 crore by March 2011. HDFC can help us scale up quickly. Along with its brand equity, we can leverage its distribution structure and network”.

The public sector banks (PSBs) are the main players of the education loan. To be in competition with PSBs Credila has to cover a wide distance.

In 2009-10 PSBs disbursed educational loans worth Rs 8,000 crore to 320,000 students while there outstanding loans amounted to Rs 35,628.33 crore at the end of March 2010.

He said, “We can access its (HDFC’s) existing customers and database. It will not only help us expand but also bring down the cost of funds.”

The company is also having talks with other banks in order to diversify its sources of funds. PNB is giving credit whereas CARE has assigned a “BBB”-rating for its term loan facility (Rs 100 crore).

Currently Credila is doing 65 per cent of lending, to students studying within the country and the loan is given mainly for management courses in India, in the United States the disbursement is largely for masters in science, followed by management courses.

Bhonsle said, “This is an asset class in India which has not been focused on as a separate venture. While PSBs have been offering student loan services, they have been selling it as part of the product portfolio they offer.”

Giving details on where does Credila stands out vis-à-vis banks; Bhonsle says the loan facilities offered by banks are mostly identical. Moreover banks sanction loans only after a student has attained admission. Whereas, non-banking financial companies based on domain expertise and their understanding of the background, approve loans before admission.

Credila says that it is more rationalized on courses and career prospects for students, due to which it is more flexible. It gives loans against less security (collateral) as compared to big commercial banks. Bhonsle said, “We are flexible. Our domain expertise helps us extend this facility in such a large market of opportunity.”

It also has a different approach. To get loan student has to visit bank branch whereas Credila reaches out to students for loans.

“Students and parents want the kind of help that we are offering –reaching their door steps. If someone comes to them and explains everything, it makes sense. Small things are of large importance,” added Bhonsle.

Credila’s keep its back-end operations updated on education institutes. It has a database of more than 20,000 colleges.

The company is offering loans between interest rates of 9.75 per cent and 12.5 per cent and provides loans up to Rs 50 lakh, while PSBs do not lend more than Rs 20 lakh.