Presently, the lender has more than 6,000 branches across India.
“The branch will be digital from the customer on-boarding and transaction/servicing perspective. It will provide the emotional engagement and relationship management required to provide financial solutions to our customers. These branches will be smaller in size and will be physical relationship hubs,” Jagadishan said. .
Emphasizing its importance, the CEO of the Bank said that the branch network has been a major source of deposit mobilization and continues to be the driving force for customer acquisition and customer retention.
HDFC twins on merger
Jagadeesan talked about the need to foray into the home loan segment as the bank’s merger with its parent HDFC is currently taking shape. Being one of the main drivers of India’s GDP, he said housing offers a major growth opportunity.
Talking about the opportunities that come with the merger, Jagadeesan said that the bank may combine consumer durable loans with home loans as customers buy new home appliances after buying a home.
“The bank is one of the largest consumer durable financiers in the country. We can easily associate it with home loans, because with every home loan, there is a tendency for the customer to pick up new consumer durables. It is this kind of bundling. This will increase margins,” Jagadeesan said.
HDFC Bank and mortgage lender HDFC announced the merger on April 4, 2022.
He said that lack of regulatory arbitrage between banks and NBFCs is also one of the reasons for the merger.