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INDIA | |
Best Bank: HDFC Bank | ||
HDFC Bank continues to set the standards against which other Indian domestic banks are compared. In the year to March 31, 2022 – a difficult environment for many in financial services – HDFC’s profit after tax rose 14.6% to the equivalent of $4.88 billion.
Deposits grew 12.7%, borrowings 31.6% and total assets 14.2% in a year in which HDFC delivered 16.9% return on equity.
In a challenging environment, retail and treasury profit fell, but was more than compensated for by a knockout 38.6% growth in the wholesale banking business. And through all of this, non-performing loans – consistently the lowest in the industry through Covid – fell to just 1.17% gross.
HDFC Bank, led by chief executive Sashidhar Jagdishan, has managed this so consistently over the years by doing the simple things right. It has steered clear of scandal, its risk-management division is peerless and it never does anything stupid.
Based on this sturdy foundation, it has then found the best things to excel at: the largest cash-management player in the country, for example, and a leader in supply-chain financing, as well as a local bank of choice for multinational corporations operating in India. A steadfast commitment to digital will help keep it ahead of the pack.