Betting big on opportunities in rural areas, HDFC Bank on Thursday announced that it has carved out a rural banking function.

“Tasked to take banking products further in the hinterland, rural banking will consolidate the bank’s existing initiatives in this direction, and take it closer to the last mile,” the private sector lender said in a statement.

Expansion plans

Carved out of retail branch banking, the rural banking business to focus on semi-urban and rural areas, a large part of which remains untapped and will offer the entire bouquet of services available with the bank.

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Anil Bhavnani, who has been with the bank for over 19 years, has been appointed National Rural Banking Head.

To expand its distribution in the rural areas, HDFC Bank will open over 1,064 branches in semi-urban and rural areas in the financial year.

It also plans to build new product and services related to rural transport economy, forest economy, agri economy, and other allied activities and will focus on providing a one stop shop solution to small farmers, workers, and traders.

“For many years now, the bank had 50 per cent of its branches in semi urban and rural areas. With this enhanced focus, we will open more branches this financial year in semi-urban and rural areas. While branches are touchpoints, we are working on meeting rural needs holistically, by creating products specially designed for these markets,” Bhavnani said.”

At present, the private sector lender has 50 per cent of its 6,342 branches in semi urban and rural areas, and the remaining 50 per cent in metro and urban areas.

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