Aditya Puri, MD and CEO of HDFC Bank, believes the lender is well placed to ride out the Covid-19 storm and will continue to focus on priorities such as re-imagining the branch channel, increasing its semi-urban and rural footprint, payments business and digital transformation.

It will also focus on virtual relationship management as well as its subsidiary businesses.

“We intend to continue to innovate, adapt, and disrupt to remain trailblazers…We will continue to invest ahead in technology, computing and artificial intelligence to provide hyper-personalised offerings and experiences to our customers to become a digital first bank where every customer interaction at any touchpoint is intuitive, seamless, contextual and predictive,” Puri said in the bank’s Integrated Annual Report for 2019-20.

He said these measures would help the lender reduce costs and increase reach.

“It is also reflected in the six strategic priorities that we have focussed on in the last three years and will continue to do so,” he further noted.

The private sector lender will hold its 26th Annual General Meeting on July 18 through video conferencing or other audio visual means.

In his message to shareholders, Puri noted that the bank has managed to maintain a balance between retail and wholesale segments that proved helpful in 2019-20, when consumption expenditure slowed down.

“This strategy has stood us in good stead. Perhaps not more so than in 2019-20, when wholesale banking has helped counter the downturn in certain retail segments as a result of an overall slowdown in consumption,” he said.

He also stressed that the lender is well positioned with a strong balance sheet and healthy liquidity. “Our robust liability franchise continues to be the bedrock on which we will build our future,” he underlined.

Meanwhile, with Puri’s term set to end this October, the bank in its annual report said it has submitted its application to the Reserve Bank of India with the names of the candidates in the order of preference, for RBI’s approval.

Published on June 24, 2020

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