HDFC Bank plans to expand its presence in semi-urban, rural locations

Srinagar, May 4: HDFC Bank has planned to expand its presence in the semi-urban and rural locations (SURU) of the country. As a part of this strong push, it intends to add more branches and launch customised products for this market segment.
The Bank proposes to add more than 675 branches in the current financial year in these locations to take the total number to close to 5000. As of March 31, 2023, it had 52 per cent of its 7821 branches in SURU areas.
The Bank has launched an industry first, customised programme ‘Vishesh’, for the SURU areas. This is a unique programme as it offers a blend of financial and wellness benefits and is tailored to provide a premium banking experience to customers in semi-urban and rural geographies.
The key features of the ’Vishesh’ programme are Dedicated Personal Banker, Extendable to 8 family members, Gold loan and valuation, Daily Hospicash benefits, Annual Preventive Health Check-Up, One annual complimentary and cashless Health check-up, Unlimited Tele Health consultation and Offering a host of Agritech services.
“As a bank we believe Bharat is critical for tomorrow’s India and improving rural lives is key to India becoming a $5 trillion economy. Our unique customer engagement model and differentiated propositions for customers in semi-urban and rural geographies position the bank to play the role of an ideal partner to enrich rural lives,” said Arvind Vohra, Group Head-Retail Branch Banking.
“Today, large sections of Indians living beyond the metros and Tier 1 cities seek the same standard of living and banking products/financial services as in urban India. HDFC Bank has been at the forefront when it comes to catering to this need. Launching customised products like ‘Vishesh’ is one more step in this direction,” he added.
Apart from launching new products and services, the Bank has a unique customer engagement model, felicitating rural seniors such as sarpanches, teachers, and key officials as they play a key role in the growth and progress of villages. [KNT]