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.