HDFC Beats the Biggies to be at No. 1

Bangalore: The past five years have been a survival struggle for most of the banks across the world. In India one lender which has remained immune to the troubles swirling around the sector is HDFC Bank with a market capitalization of 1, 38,469 crore ($24.88 billion) on July31. Trading at 4.5 times book value, HDFC has become probably the most expensive bank in the world while giants like Bank of America, BNP Paribas trade at less than their book value.

With that the bank has surpassed the biggest lender in the nation - State bank of India - which has deposits that are almost six times that of the private lender. In the 16 years of its existence, the bank was helmed by Aditya Puri, a former Citi banker, who has now proved that it is not the size that matters, but how much every penny earns.  In Puri’s lead, the bank has delivered 20 quarters of at least 30 percent increase in earnings, which could be the chief dream of any bank.