HDFC Bank expects depository growth

HDFC Bank expects exponential growth in its demat business if the bullishness at the stock markets continued.

Bharat Shah, country head, custody and depository services, said the bank held demat accounts equivalent to 15 per cent of the market share of National Securities and Depository Ltd, the country's largest DP service provider.

He said the bank experienced a healthy growth in demat accounts ever since the bulls took charge of stock markets in April. He, however, failed to provide any financial number.

He also said the bank would was planning to introduce online commodity trading facilities once the guidelines on the issue would be clear.

Talking to the media after inaugurating the HDFC Bank's 13th branch in the city at Salt Lake, he said the bank had witnessed a third quarter net profit of Rs 130 crore this fiscal.

Rakesh Jha, regional business manager, retail marketing, east said the bank was planning to open nearly 16 more branches in the eastern region during the current financial year.

Of these, eight would be opened in and around Kolkata while the other new branches would be opened in Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar.

HDFC Bank has a network of 58 ATMs in the eastern region, besides its tie-up with the State Bank of India that allows its customers to access 1,700 ATMs of the SBI, Shah said.