IDFC First Bank (stylised as IDFC FIRST Bank) is an Indian

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

based in Mumbai. Founded in 2015 as a banking subsidiary of IDFC Limited, it shifted focus from infrastructure financing to retail banking after its 2018 merger with Capital First. In 2024, the bank took over the parent company IDFC Limited in a

reverse merger A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...

History

IDFC Limited was set up in 1997 by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

to finance infrastructure projects in India. With time, the company diversified into

asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of all value for which a group or entity is responsible. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as complex process or manufacturing plants, infrastr ...

, institutional broking and

investment banking Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by und ...

. In 2005, The

and

IDBI Bank The IDBI Bank Limited (IDBI Bank or IDBI) is a Scheduled Commercial Bank under the ownership of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Government of India. It was established by Government of India as a wholly owned subsidiary of Re ...

, a public sector bank were the sponsor shareholders of IDFC. The government brought down its stake to 34.91% through IDFC's initial public offering in 2005. In 2014, the

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

granted 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 the

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

in October 2015. IDFC Bank started operations on 1 October 2015. The parent entity, IDFC Limited, retained the asset management, institutional broking and infrastructure debt fund businesses through IDFC Financial Holding Company Limited (IDFC FHCL). IDFC Bank faced challenges due to bad loans from legacy infrastructure accounts. A planned merger with the

Shriram Group Shriram Group is an Indian Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Chennai. It was founded on 5 April 1974 by R. Thyagarajan (industrialist), R. Thyagarajan, AVS Raja and T. Jayaraman. The group had its beginning in chit funds bus ...

was called off. By September 2017, the bank's deposits totaled 38,890 crore, with a CASA ratio of just 8.2%.

Capital First merger

In January 2018, IDFC Bank and MSME financing company Capital First announced a merger. Capital First was founded as Future Capital Holdings under the

Future Group Future Group was an Indian conglomerate, founded by Kishore Biyani and based in Mumbai. The company was known in Indian retail and fashion sectors, operating supermarket chains Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, lifestyle stores Brand Factory and ...

, and was acquired by

Warburg Pincus Warburg Pincus LLC is a global private equity firm, headquartered in New York City, with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil, China, Southeast Asia and India. Warburg has been a private equity investor since 1966. As of April 2024 the f ...

and V. Vaidyanathan in 2012. As per a September 2017 stock filing, Capital First had a retail loan portfolio of 229.7 billion. 139 shares of IDFC Bank were issued for every 10 shares of Capital First as part of the merger share swap. The merger completed in December 2018, with IDFC Bank changing its name to IDFC First Bank. Vaidyanathan took over as the MD and CEO of the merged entity. The Reserve Bank of India approved his appointment for a period of three years, effective from 19 December 2018. The bank transitioned from infrastructure financing 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 (corporate ...

in four years since the merger. Its CASA ratio increased from 8.6% to 49.77% and retail deposits went up from 27% to 76% of total deposits, as of March 2023.

IDFC Limited merger

In July 2023, the board of the bank approved the merger with IDFC Limited. After receiving clearance from the

Competition Commission of India The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is the chief national competition regulator in India. It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 to promote competition a ...

and the Reserve Bank of India, the merger proposal was approved by the

National Company Law Tribunal The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is a quasi-judicial body in India that adjudicates issues relating to Indian companies. The tribunal, established under the Companies Act 2013, was constituted on 1 June 2016 by the government of India a ...

in May 2024. The proposal, endorsed by the bank's shareholders and NCD holders, involved two steps–IDFC FHCL merging with IDFC Limited, followed by IDFC Limited merging into IDFC First Bank. On 1 October 2024, IDFC Limited merged with the bank. As a result of the merger, 155 equity shares of the bank were allotted for every 100 equity shares of IDFC Limited held by each shareholder in the latter.

Shareholding

On 22 February 2023, IDFC Limited announced that it would invest 2,200 crore in the bank, increasing its stake in the bank up to 40% from 36.38%. Also, on 22 February 2023, the bank issued 12,03,745 equity shares to its employees under the company ESOP plan. On 12 September 2023, US-based GQG Partners acquired an additional 5.1 crore shares, equivalent to a 0.76% stake, from V. Vaidyanathan in a block deal conducted on the stock exchange. As a result, GQG Partners' ownership in the bank rose to 3.36%. In July 2024,

Life Insurance Corporation The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an Indian public sector life insurance company headquartered in Mumbai. It is India's largest insurance company as well as the largest institutional investor with total assets under management wo ...

raised its stake in the bank to 2.68% by purchasing shares of the lender at Rs 80.63 each, with a total acquisition cost of . In May 2025, Warburg Pincus initiated the acquisition of a 10% stake by seeking approval from the

. However, the institutional shareholders rejected the proposal to grant the group a board seat.

Operations

As of November 2022, the bank had 809 branches, 249 asset service centres, 925 ATMs, and 606 rural business correspondent centres across the country.

Products and services

IDFC First Bank HSR Layout Sector 1 Branch

The bank provides products and services related to

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, ...

and

. In 2017, IDFC Bank launched an

Aadhaar Aadhaar (Hindi: आधार, ) is a twelve-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by all residents of India, based on their biometrics and demography, demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification ...

-linked cashless merchant solution. The bank became a member of the

Open Network for Digital Commerce Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a public technology initiative launched by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India to foster decentralized open e-commerce model and is led by a privat ...

in September 2022. Subsequently, it began enrolling small merchants, who are existing customers with current accounts, onto a partner application registered with ONDC. In 2023, it launched

central bank digital currency A central bank digital currency (CBDC; also called digital fiat currency or digital base money) is a digital currency issued by a central bank, rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the central bank, unless it is dividend-y ...

under the guidance of the RBI.

Rural lending

The bank's rural lending portfolio consists of 60% women borrowers, as of October 2023. The typical loan size is ₹2-3 lakh. The portfolio has a 99.7% collection rate, a gross NPA of 1.2%, and a net NPA of 0.3%. In South and Central India, the rural lending is led by IDFC First Bharat Limited (IFBL) which traces its roots to Grama Vidiyal, a

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

-based public charitable trust established in 1986. In 2003, it became a

microfinance Microfinance consists of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses (SMEs) who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; saving ...

institution called Grama Vidiyal Micro Finance Limited (GVMFL). In 2016, IDFC Bank acquired GVMFL, turning it into a wholly-owned subsidiary of the bank. GVMFL later became known as IDFC First Bharat Limited.

Financials

In the financial year 2024, the bank had a

capital adequacy ratio Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) also known as Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio (CRAR), is the ratio of a bank's capital to its risk. National regulators track a bank's CAR to ensure that it can absorb a reasonable amount of loss and complies ...

of 16.82%. As of 30 September 2024, the overall gross

non-performing asset A non-performing loan (NPL) is a bank loan that is subject to late repayment or is unlikely to be repaid by the borrower in full. Non-performing loans represent a major challenge for the banking sector, as they reduce profitability. They are ofte ...

(NPA) ratio is 1.92%, while the net NPA ratio is 0.48%. In 2023, it became one of the top 10 banks in India by

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

Sponsorships

In 2020, the bank signed

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

as its first brand ambassador. In 2023, the bank obtained the title sponsorship rights for all

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

's international and domestic home matches.

Philanthropy

Under bank's employee-funded ''Ghar Ghar Ration'' program, the bank employees will supply ration kits to 50,000 low income customers whose livelihoods has been impacted by the pandemic. As many as 16,000 beneficiaries have been 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 the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

with a cash relief support of ₹10,000 in a partnership with 'Give India'.