HDFC Bank Loan (IFC-48034)

Countries
  • India
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
C
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Feb 26, 2024
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
HDFC BANK LIMITED
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 500.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jul 26, 2024

Disclosed by Bank May 13, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the project envisages a proposed lending to HDFC Bank Limited (HDFC or the Bank), India’s largest private sector bank and second largest bank overall. The proposed lending consists of a loan of up to US$500 million to support the Bank’s lending to women borrowers for income generation purposes. The proceeds of the IFC loan will be used for on-lending to women borrowers as microloans under Self Help Group (SHGs) and Joint Liability Group (JLGs) enrolled in HDFC Bank’s Sustainable Livelihoods Initiative (SLI), the Bank’s business line responsible for microfinance lending program.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The IFC loan will only support on-lending to HDFC Bank’s microfinance borrowers. The IFC loan will not support higher risk activities that may include involuntary resettlement, risk of adverse impacts on indigenous peoples, significant risks to or impacts on the environment, community health and safety, biodiversity, cultural heritage, significant retrenchment, or significant occupational health and safety risks. The loan will also not support any coal-related activity. Hence, the E&S risks and impacts of the Project will be low and mostly relate to exposure to activities on the IFC Exclusion List. The Project is categorized as FI-3 according to IFC's Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability. The applicable performance requirements will be the IFC- MFI Exclusion List.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

The proposed Project envisages a senior unsecured debt investment of up to US$500 million in HDFC Bank Limited.

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

HDFC Bank Limited was established in 1994  and effective July 1, 2023, has merged with its promoter entity HDFC Limited, previously a long-standing IFC client. As of March 31, 2024, HDFC Bank had standalone total assets of US$433.742 billion (translated into USD at 83.405) and over 93 million customers across an extensive distribution network of 8,738 branches (Source: Bank’s investor presentation). More than half of the Bank’s branches are in Semi-urban and rural geographies. It is rated BBB-/Stable by Standard & Poor's and Baa3/Stable by Moody’s, at par with India’s sovereign rating. Its domestic rating is AAA. HDFC is a listed entity and has a diversified shareholding, with 100% of the shareholding being publicly owned.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

HDFC Bank
Kapil Bansal
Executive Vice President

Kapil.Bansal@hdfcbank.com
HDFC Bank House, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (West), Mumbai - 400 013
https://www.hdfcbank.com/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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How it works