Should I Invest in HDFC Bank ?

I would like to draw your attention to one of world class Indian bank and why you should invest in HDFC bank at current levels.

Sector performance

The Indian banking market is growing at an astonishing rate, with Assets expected to reach US$1 trillion by 2010. An expanding economy, middle class, and technological innovations are all contributing to this growth. The country’s middle class accounts for over 320 million people. In correlation with the growth of the economy, rising income levels, increased standard of living, and affordability of banking products are promising factors for continued expansion.

The Indian banking Industry is in the middle of an IT revolution, Focusing on the expansion of retail and rural banking. Players are becoming increasingly customer – centric in their approach, which has resulted in innovative methods of offering new banking products and services. Banks are now realizing the importance of being a big player and are beginning to focus their attention on mergers and acquisitions to take advantage of economies of scale and/or comply with Basel II regulation.

History

The Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) was amongst the first to receive an ‘in principle’ approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a bank in the private sector, as part of the RBI’s liberalization of the Indian Banking Industry in 1994. The bank was incorporated in August 1994 in the name of ‘HDFC Bank Limited’, with its registered office in Mumbai, India. HDFC Bank commenced operations as a Scheduled Commercial Bank in January 1995.

Data Source : Livemint / Wiki / moneycontrol

During the year, the Bank stepped up retail customer acquisition with deposit accounts increasing from 6.2 million to 8.7 million and total cards issued (debit and credit cards) increasing from 7 million to 9.2 million.

HDFC BANK business strategy emphasizes the following

Increase market share in India’s expanding banking and financial services industry by following a disciplined growth strategy.

Focusing on quality and not on quantity and delivering high quality customer service.

Leverage our technology platform and open scaleable systems to deliver more products to more customers and to control operating costs.

Maintain current high standards for asset quality through disciplined credit risk management.

Develop innovative products and services that attract the targeted customers and address inefficiencies in the Indian financial sector.

Continue to develop products and services that reduce bank’s cost of funds.

Focus on high earnings growth with low volatility.

Current Valuations

A touch expensive then competitors but worth investing at this point.