Will Continue Supporting HDB Financial Post-IPO As Well, Says HDFC Bank CEO

HDFC Bank's Managing Director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan on Wednesday said the lender will continue supporting its subsidiary HDB Financial Services post-listing as well.

Terming the Rs 12,500-crore initial public offering a 'complex' transaction, Jagdishan said this is a 'historic' day for the HDFC Bank-promoted non banking finance company. HDB shares got listed on bourses on Wednesday.

Speaking before the listing, Jagdishan said the IPO will provide 'independent capital and visibility' for the company to accelerate its growth trajectory.

'We will continue to support HDB as it navigates the opportunities and challenges of the public market,' Jagdishan said.

He added that HDB is well positioned to capitalise on the opportunity by the underserved credit segments in the country which provide a 'large runway', and added that the company has 'strong fundamentals' for doing so.

HDFC Bank, the largest by assets in the private space, has nurtured the NBFC over the years, the CEO said, adding that HDB's listing is a milestone for inclusive growth and value creation for the bank.

The parent is set to book big gains as the IPO included a Rs 10,000-crore offer-for-sale by HDFC Bank.

The company's IPO saw a nearly 17-times subscription, with a robust demand by institutional investors at 55 times the allotted portion. The retail subscription was relatively subdued with 1.4 times the subscription.

It had set a price band of Rs 700-740 per share, which was much lower than the grey or unlisted market, with the regulatory overhang playing on investors' minds.

As per the RBI mandate, the NBFC was supposed to list by September this year because of its size. Under draft guidelines, the RBI is also mulling disallowing banks to carry out the same business as its subsidiaries and caps the bank stake in subsidiaries at 20% if they want to continue doing same lines of business.

The HDB management had said that there is nothing that is uncommon between the businesses undertaken by the NBFC and its parent.

HDFC Bank's stake in the company has come down to 75% after the IPO. Shares of HDB Financial Services Ltd got listed with a premium of nearly 13% against the issue price of Rs 740.