India’s Top 500 Companies 2019

INDIA’S TOP 500 COMPANIES 2019 106 Experts’ View Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited As a leading provider of housing finance in India since 1977, what are the key milestones that HDFC Ltd has achieved till now? HDFC Ltd. which started with an equity capital of ` 10 crore in 1977, today has a market capital of over ` 3.45 trillion (As on May 03, 2019) and has assisted over 6.8 million families (As on December 31, 2018) in acquiring their own home, since inception. Key Milestones: 9 9 CurrentlyHDFC’s loandisbursements every 5 days are more than what HDFC disbursed in its first 13 years cumulatively. 9 9 In 1994, HDFC was one of the first to obtain Banking license under the new Policy. 9 9 In 2000, HDFC Standard Life Insurance was the only life insurance company to be granted a certificate of registration from IRDA in the first phase. 9 9 In 2016, HDFC became the first Indian corporate to issue Rupee Denominated Bonds (Masala Bonds) on London Stock Exchange. What are the key differentiating factors for HDFC Ltd from its peers that have led to the overall success of the business? HDFC has always believed in “learning by doing” philosophy and has always been open to ideas from customers, employees and well wishers. Product innovation at HDFC follows a straight forward rule— simple products when well executed catch the attention of consumers. HDFC’s biggest strength lies in the fact that we handhold our customer right through their entire home buying process. This in the context of the 80’s and 90’s required a huge “time Investment” with the customers as the awareness levels were low and the new age mediums like Internet, etc were non-existent. Face-to-face interaction between customer and lender is what HDFC has always believed in. A personal meeting enables better understanding of the unique requirements of consumers and hence customized solutions. HDFC has regularly tied up with developers to bring special offers to the customers. The dynamics of housing scenario have changed drastically in the past couple of years. What strategies did HDFC Ltd adopt to maximize the opportunities in this scenario? Over the last couple of years a lot of players have entered the housing finance market. They are trying to hard sell without realizing that the nature of the industry is such that just hard sell won’t work. Right kind of knowledge needs to be provided to the consumer especially when the situation changes from state to state and city to city and sometimes locations within the city. The consumer needs solutions and not just loans. Customers come to us not just for “HOME LOANS”. What this means is a Home Loan is something everyone including us offers but what is different is the value addition we bring to the table. We are a specialized and focused home loan provider. We provide our customers the benefit of our experience be it while choosing a builder or a property or guiding on the documentation or the loan option. Home loan is not just about money but a whole lot of things that goes to make the experience of buying a house a memorable one for our customers. Also to make Home loans hassle-free and instant, HDFC has • Launched its responsive website (www.hdfc.com ) which caters to both Desktop as well as Mobile users and is focused on providing RENU SUD KARNAD Managing Director Dun & Bradstreet