IDFC First Bank (formerly IDFC Bank) is an Indian Private Sector Bank formed by the merger of the banking arm of
Infrastructure Development Finance Company
Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited, more commonly known as IDFC, is a finance company based in India under Department of Financial Services, Government of India. It provides finance and advisory services for infrastructure pro ...
and
Capital First Ltd., an Indian non-bank financial institution.
It is the first universal bank to offer monthly interest credit on savings accounts, lifetime free credit cards with dynamic and low
annual percentage rate
The term annual percentage rate of charge (APR), corresponding sometimes to a nominal APR and sometimes to an effective APR (EAPR), is the interest rate for a whole year (annualized), rather than just a monthly fee/rate, as applied on a loan, mort ...
s.
History
IDFC Limited was set up in 1997 to finance infrastructure projects in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It diversified into investment banking & institutional securities (2007), Mutual Funds (2008), Infrastructure Debt Fund (2015). In 2014, the
Reserve Bank of India
The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...
granted an in-principle approval to IDFC Limited to set up a new bank in the private sector. Following this, the IDFC Limited divested its infrastructure finance assets and liabilities to a new entity - IDFC Bank. The bank was launched through this demerger from IDFC Limited and it was officially inaugurated by
Prime Minister of India
The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
in October 2015.
IDFC Bank started operations on 1 October 2015, with 23 branches in Madhya Pradesh,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
,
Bengaluru
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
,
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
,
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
,
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
and
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
. It has more than 600 branches across India till 2021.
15 branches are in settlements with a population of less than 10,000. IDFC Bank launched its 100th branch in
Honnali,
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
, in October 2017.
In January 2018, IDFC Bank and non-banking financial company
Capital First announced a merger. Shareholders of Capital First were to be issued 13.9 shares of the merged entity for every 1 share of Capital First. IDFC First Bank was founded as a new entity on December 18, 2018.
The bank begin to grow its loans with a particular focus on retail as it comes out of nearly four-year self-imposed restrictions on growth while building the deposit franchise. As of 22 October 2022, IDFC First Bank reports a 266 per cent jump in its net profit at ₹556 crore for the quarter ended September 2022. Its core operating income (excluding trading gains) rose by 35 per cent from a year ago to ₹3,947 crore in Q2 of 2022-23 fiscal year. Net interest income climbed 32 per cent at ₹3,002 crore, while fee and other income spurted by 44 per cent to ₹945 crore in the September quarter of FY23.
Merger
The Reserve Bank has approved the appointment of
V. Vaidyanathan
V. Vaidyanathan (born 2 January 1968) is an Indian banker who is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IDFC First Bank, formed after the merger of IDFC Bank and Capital First Ltd., Capital First. Prior to assuming this rol ...
as Managing Director and CEO of IDFC First Bank for a period of three years effective from December 19, 2018.
The loan assets and borrowings of IDFC Limited were transferred to IDFC Bank at the time of inception. 13.9 shares of IDFC Bank were issued for every share of Capital First as part of the merger scheme.
The parent entity, IDFC Limited, retained the AMC, Institutional Broking and Infrastructure Debt Fund business through IDFC Financial Holding Company Limited (NOFHC). The shares of erstwhile IDFC Bank Limited were listed in the exchanges in November 2015.
IDFC FIRST Bank reached a ROA of 1% within three and half years, with gross NPA of 2% and net NPA of only 0.7% as on quarter ending September 2022. The transformation of the bank into a retail bank is complete.
Operations
As of November 2022, the bank has expanded to 670 branches, 249 asset service centres, 812 ATMs and 606 rural business correspondent centres across the country.
Products and services
Bank provides products and services related to
retail banking
Retail banking, also known as consumer banking or personal banking, is the provision of services by a bank to the general public, rather than to companies, corporations or other banks, which are often described as wholesale banking. Banking servi ...
,
wholesale banking
Wholesale banking is the provision of services by banks to larger customers or organizations such as mortgage brokers, large corporate clients, mid-sized companies, real estate developers and investors, international trade finance businesses, ins ...
and
investment banking
Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...
. But, among other products,
home loans continue to be the biggest growth drivers for the bank. The company also offers one of the highest interest rate for saving accounts in the country, with an interest rate of 6%.
Milestones
* 2003 - The company raised $200 million for the India Development Fund, the first infrastructure-focused private equity fund.
* 2009 - IDFC signs UNGC Global Compact.
* 2010 - Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) has raised ₹2,654 crore by a qualified institutional placement (QIP), attracting demand for twice the shares on offer, according to an advisor to the sale.
* 2013 - IDFC becomes first Indian institution to adopt Equator principles.
* 2014 - RBI grants banking license to IDFC Bank.
* 2017 - The bank IDFC Bank is the first in India to launch
Aadhaar
Aadhaar ( hi, आधार, ādhār, lit=base, foundation, bn, আধার) is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by the citizens of India and resident foreign nationals who have spent over 182 days in twelve ...
-linked cashless merchant solution.
* 2018 - IDFC Bank merged with Capital First to create IDFC First Bank.
* 2020 - The bank announced that it has signed
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...
, as its first brand ambassador.
* 2021 - It announced the entry into credit card sector with low interest rates and interest free credit in 2021.
Mergers and acquisitions
The bank, IDFC Financial Holdings, and IDFC all came together to form IDFC in 2021, marking the beginning of the process of a reverse merger. The promoter group comprises both of these organisations as members.
Philanthropy
Under bank’s employee funded ''Ghar Ghar Ration'' program, the bank employees will supply ration kits to 50,000 low income customers whose livelihood has been impacted by the pandemic. As many as 16,000 benefits have reached across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh under this program. The lender has also identified 250 vulnerable families who have lost an earning member of their family to
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
with a cash relief support of ₹10,000 in a partnership with 'Give India'.
Financials
See also
*
Banking in India
Modern banking in India originated in the mid of 18th century. Among the first banks were the Bank of Hindustan, which was established in 1770 and liquidated in 1829–32; and the General Bank of India, established in 1786 but failed in 1791. ...
*
List of banks in India
This is the list of banks which are listed as Scheduled Banks (India) under second schedule of RBI Act, 1934.
Commercial banks Public Sector Banks (PSBs)
There are 12 public sector banks as of 15 November 2021
Private-sector banks
A ...
*
Reserve Bank of India
The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...
*
Indian Financial System Code
The Indian Financial System Code (IFS Code or IFSC) is an alphanumeric code that facilitates electronic funds transfer in India. A code uniquely identifies each bank branch participating in the three main Payment and settlement systems in India: th ...
*
List of largest banks
The following are lists of the largest banks in the world, as measured by total assets.
By total assets
The list is based on the April 2022 S&P Global Market Intelligence report of the 100 largest banks in the world. The ranking was based upon a ...
*
List of companies of India
India is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country (with over 1.2 billion people), and the most populous democracy in the world.
In 2019, the Indian economy was the world's fifth ...
*
Make in India
Make in India is an initiative by the Government of India to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products made in India and incentivize dedicated investments into manufacturing. The policy approach was to creat ...
References
{{Nifty 200 companies
2015 establishments in Maharashtra
Banks based in Mumbai
IDFC First Bank
Warburg Pincus companies
Indian companies established in 2015
Banks established in 2015
Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India
Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange