Comments
Private sector lender HDFC Bank is looking to grow its investment banking business and possibly double it over the next two years.
“We are investing in the business. Organically, we are growing and inorganically also we are happy to look at options of partnership and ways to grow this business,” said Rakesh Singh, Group Head – Investment Banking, Private Banking, Marketing and Products, HDFC Bank.
The focus will be more on the equity side as the bank has been doing well on the debt side. In an interaction with BusinessLine , Singh said the lender is hiring people and strengthening its teams in divisions including equity research and sales investment banking.
Also read: HDFC Bank creates Digital and Enterprise factories to roll-out new digital products
“The business will grow a couple of times. We hope it will double in two years,” he said. Singh said the bank will also be keen on working on government PSU disinvestment issues.
When asked about corporate credit demand, Singh said that there are signs of revival in the infrastructure sector. “We are seeing some levels of usual growth linked to newer infra in the market. Roads and highways, transmission, warehousing, renewable energy, solar, city gas distribution, oil and gas, ports are witnessing demand for credit,” he said.
Equity markets
Meanwhile, when asked about the bullishness of the equity markets, he said that it is reflecting the potential of the country in the medium term. “I don’t think stock markets are running far ahead of fundamentals,” Singh said, adding that there is enough economic momentum for the country to come out of the Covid-induced economic slowdown. This could however, take a slightly longer period of time of two to three years, he added.
“Macro numbers are just an aberration because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The underlying goods and services tax collections are very strong and show the robustness of the economy. A one time event driven fiscal pressure does not reflect poor economic fundamentals of the country,” he said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.