UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

OR

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 20102013

OR

For the transition period fromto

OR

Date of event requiring this shell company report

Commission file number 001-15216

HDFC BANK LIMITED

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Not Applicable

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

India

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

HDFC Bank House, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013, India

(Address of principal executive offices)

Name: Sanjay Dongre, Executive Vice President (Legal) and Company Secretary

Telephone: 91-22-2490-2934 /or 91-22-2496-1616,91-22-2498-8484, Ext. 3473

Email:sanjay.dongre@hdfcbank.com,

Address: 2nd floor, Process House, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013, India.

(Name, telephone, e-mail and/or facsimile number and address of company contact person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:Not Applicable

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:Not Applicable

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:

Equity Shares, as of March 31, 2010                 457,743,2722013              2,379,419,030

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  x    No  ¨

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    Yes  ¨    No  x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

U.S. GAAP  x    International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board  ¨    Other  ¨

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow:    Item 17  ¨    Item 18¨

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ¨    No  x

This Annual Report on Form 20-F is incorporated by reference to our Registration Statement on Form F-1 Filed on July 12, 2001 (File No. 333-13718).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

i

CROSS REFERENCE SHEET

Form 20-F

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ii

EXCHANGE RATES AND CERTAIN DEFINED TERMS

In this document, all references to “we,” “us,” “our,” “HDFC Bank” or “the Bank” shall mean HDFC Bank Limited or where the context requires also to its subsidiaries whose financials are consolidated for accounting purposes. References to the “U.S.” or “United States” are to the United States of America, its territories and its possessions. References to “India” are to the Republic of India. References to “$” or “US$” or “dollars” or “U.S. dollars” are to the legal currency of the United States and references to “Rs. “ Rs.” or “rupees” or “INR” or “Indian rupees” are to the legal currency of India.

Our financial statements are presented in Indian rupees and in some cases translated into U.S. dollars. The financial statements and all other financial data included in this report, except as otherwise noted, are prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP. US GAAP differs in certain material respects from accounting principles generally accepted in India, the requirements of India’s Banking Regulation Act and related regulations issued by the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) (collectively “Indian GAAP”), which form the basis of our statutory general purpose financial statements in India. Principal differences insofar as they relate to us include: determination of the allowance for credit losses, classification and valuation of investments, accounting for deferred income taxes, stock-based compensation, employee benefits, loan origination fees, derivative financial instruments, business combinations and the presentation format and disclosures of the financial statements and related notes.

References to a particular “fiscal” year are to our fiscal year ended March 31 of such year.

Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the Indian rupee and the U.S. dollar will affect the U.S. dollar equivalent of the Indian rupee price of the equity shares on the Indian stock exchanges and, as a result, will affect the market price of our American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) in the United States. These fluctuations will also affect the conversion into U.S. dollars by the depositary of any cash dividends paid in Indian rupees on the equity shares represented by ADSs.

From 1980 untilDuring fiscal 2003,2009, the rupee consistently depreciated againstcame under strong selling pressure on account of the dollar.sub-prime crisis and global risk aversion which led to a portfolio outflows. The INR managed to recover somewhat in fiscal 2010 in line with the pickup in the domestic economy and improvement in global risk appetite. In fiscal 20042011, the rupee was range bound as capital flows just about managed to balance the drag from external debt servicing and 2005, the Indian rupee appreciated compared to fiscal 2003.import payments. However, in 2006,fiscal year 2012, the rupeeINR depreciated againstcoming under strain amidst a widening current account deficit, thin capital inflows and rising global uncertainty spurred by lingering financial and economic instability in Europe and the U.S. dollar.USA. During fiscal 20072013, the INR came under sustained selling pressure driven by growing anxiety about domestic growth prospects, concerns about the elevated current account deficit and fiscal 2008, the rupee appreciated against the U.S. dollar. This trend was reversed during fiscal 2009 when the rupee depreciated against the U.S. dollar. In fiscal 2010 the rupee has appreciated against the U.S. dollarglobal risk aversion (the high and low during the period being Rs 50.48fiscal 2013 was Rs. 57.13 per US$1.00 and Rs. 44.9450.64 per US$1.00, respectively). The Indian rupee has fallen significantly against the U.S. dollar, from 54.52 rupees per U.S. dollar at March 29, 2013 to 59.37 rupees per U.S. dollar at July 19, 2013, a depreciation of 8.9%. The recent sharp decline was caused mainly by the increasing strength of the U.S. dollar, however India was particularly affected because of continued concerns about its domestic growth prospects, elevated current account deficit and global risk aversion.

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, information concerning the exchange rates between Indian rupees and U.S. dollars based on the noon buying rate in The City of New York:

The following table sets forth the high and low noon buying rate for the Indian rupee for each of the previous six months:

Although we have translated selected Indian rupee amounts in this document into U.S. dollars for convenience, this does not mean that the Indian rupee amounts referred to could have been, or could be, converted to U.S. dollars at any particular rate, the rates stated above, or at all. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from Indian rupees to U.S. dollars are based on the noon buying rate in the City of New York for cable transfers in Indian rupees at US$1.00 = Rs. 44.9554.52 on March 31, 2010.29, 2013. The noon buying rate on September 24, 2010July 19, 2013 was Rs. 45.1059.37 per US$1.00.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

We have included statements in this report which contain words or phrases, such as “will”, “aim”, “believe”, “expect”, “will continue”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “intend”, “plan”, “future”, “objective”, “project”, “should”, and similar expressions or variations of these expressions, that are “forward-looking statements”. Actual results may differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements due to certain risks or uncertainties associated with our expectations with respect to, but not limited to, our ability to implement our strategy successfully, the market acceptance of and demand for various banking services, future levels of our non-performing loans, our growth and expansion, the adequacy of our allowance for credit and investment losses, technological changes, volatility in investment income, our ability to market new products, cash flow projections, the outcome of any legal, tax or regulatory proceedings in India and in other jurisdictions we are or become a party to, any penalties imposed by the RBI, the future impact of new accounting standards, our ability to pay dividends, the impact of changes in banking regulations and other regulatory changes in India and other jurisdictions on us, our ability to roll over our short-term funding sources and our exposure to market and operational risks. By their nature, certain of the market risk disclosures are only estimates and could be materially different from what may actually occur in the future. As a result, actual future gains, losses or impact on net income could materially differ from those that have been estimated. Our forward looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and we do not undertake any obligation, and we do not intend, to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date in the statement, even if our expectations or any related events or circumstances change.

In addition, other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by the forward-looking statements contained in this document include, but are not limited to: general economic and political conditions, instability or uncertainty in India and other countries which have an impact on our business activities or investments caused by any factor including the global financial crisis and problems in the Eurozone countries, any downgrade in India’s debt rating or the debt rating of our borrowings, terrorist attacks in India, the United States or elsewhere, anti-terrorist or other attacks by the United States, a United States-led coalition or any other country, tensions between India and Pakistan related to the Kashmir region, military armament or social unrest in any part of India, the monetary and interest rate policies of the government of India, natural calamities, inflation, deflation, unanticipated turbulence in interest rates, foreign exchange rates, equity prices or other rates or prices, the performance of the financial markets in India and globally, changes in Indian and foreign laws and regulations, including tax, accounting and banking regulations, changes in competition and the pricing environment in India, and regional or general changes in asset valuations. For further discussion on the factors that could cause actual results to differ, see “Risk Factors”.

BUSINESS

Overview

We are a new generation private sector bank in India. Our goal is to be the preferred provider of financial services to upper and middle income individuals and corporations in India. Our strategy is to provide a comprehensive range of financial products and services forto our customers through multiple distribution channels, with what we believe is high quality service and superior execution. We have three principal business activities: retail banking, wholesale banking and treasury operations.

We have grown rapidly since commencing operations in January 1995. In the five years ended March 31, 2010,2013, we expanded our operations from 467761 branches and 1,1471,977 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in 327 cities/towns to 3,062 branches and 10,743 ATMs in 211 cities to 1,725 branches and 4,232 ATMs in 779 cities.1,845 cities/towns. During the same five years,year period, our customer base grewincreased from 6.811.6 million customers to over 1928.7 million customers. AsOn account of the expansion in our geographical reach and the resultant increase in market penetration, have expanded, our assets have grown from Rs. 535.51,508.0 billion as of March 31, 20052008 to Rs. 2,416.54,370.9 billion as of March 31, 2010.2013. Our net income has increased from Rs. 6.613.2 billion for fiscal 20052008 to Rs. 24.661.8 billion for fiscal 2010 at a compounded annual growth rate of 30.1%.2013.

Our rapid growth is in part attributable to our acquisition ofWe acquired Centurion Bank of Punjab Limited (CBoP). CBoP was a private sector Indian bank that offered retail, small and medium enterprise and corporate banking products and services, similar to ours. in 2008. Our shareholders approved the acquisition on March 27, 2008, and it became effective May 23, 2008. As consideration for the acquisition, every 29 equity shares of CBoP were exchanged for one of our equity shares. The primary purpose of the acquisition was to realize potential synergies and growth opportunities.

As a result of our acquisition of CBoP, our network increased by 404 branches and 426 ATMs with a geographical spread mainly across areas such as Punjab, Haryana and Kerala. We acquired over two million customers, and approximately Rs. 266,834.6 million in assets and assumed approximately Rs. 239,003.1 million in liabilities. The fair value of the net assets we acquired was Rs. 27,831.5 million on the date we acquired CBoP, which resulted in goodwill of Rs. 74,937.9 million. Had

Our financial condition and results of operations are affected by general economic conditions prevailing in India. It was a challenging year for the CBoP acquisition taken placeIndian economy with lingering concerns over global growth prospects and financial stability weighing on external demand and international funding. Further, local headwinds such as elevated inflation and policy impediments to investment exacerbated the impact of a shaky global environment on domestic growth. As a result, GDP growth decreased to 5.0% in fiscal 2013 from 6.2% in fiscal 2012 and 9.3% in fiscal 2011. While the government and the RBI have enacted policies to contain this decrease, their impact is not yet evident. In particular, the government has adopted an approach of fiscal consolidation. The RBI, on the other hand, had adopted an approach of measured policy easing in fiscal 2013 but it was forced to reverse its stance to combat the recent episode of excessive INR depreciation between May and July 2013. To temper the pace of depreciation, the RBI initiated measures aimed primarily to tighten onshore liquidity in order to push domestic money market rates higher so as to attract inflows into the bond markets and subsequently provide some support to the exchange rate. While growth is likely to remain subdued and the current account deficit is likely to reduce from 4.8% of GDP in fiscal year 2013 to 3.8% of GDP in fiscal year 2014, the RBI is unlikely to ease monetary policy at least until there is clear evidence of stability in the beginning of fiscals 2008INR. On balance, a normal monsoon and 2009, our combined net income would have been Rs. 12,059.5 million and Rs. 14,174.5 million for fiscals 2008 and 2009, respectively (our actual net income was Rs. 13,154.2 million and Rs. 15,104.3 million for fiscals 2008 and 2009, respectively).some traction in government capital expenditure could result in only a modest improvement in GDP growth from 5.0% in fiscal year 2013 to 5.5% in fiscal year 2014.

Notwithstanding our pace of growth, we believe we have maintained a strong balance sheet and a low cost of funds. As of March 31, 2010,2013, net non-performing customer assets (which consist of loans and credit substitutes) constituted 0.3%0.2% of net customer assets as per Indian generally accepted accounting principles, or Indian GAAP.assets. In addition, our net customer assets represented 75.7%86.2% of our customer deposits and customer deposits represented 75.3%67.7% of our total liabilities and shareholders’ equity. The average non-interest bearing current accounts and low-interest bearing savings accounts represented 48.5%44.3% of total deposits for fiscal 2010.2013. These low-cost deposits and the cash float associated with our transactional services, led to an average cost of funds including equity (calculated under Indian GAAP) for fiscal 20102013 of 4.0%5.2%.

We are part of the HDFC group of companies established by our principal shareholder, Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (“HDFC Limited”), a listed public limited company established under the laws of India. HDFC Limited is primarily engaged in financial services, including mortgages, property-related lending and deposit services. The subsidiaries and associated companies of HDFC Limited are also largely engaged in a range of financial services, including asset management, life insurance and other insurance. HDFC Limited and its subsidiaries owned 23.7%22.8% of our outstanding equity shares as of March 31, 2010.2013. Our Chairman and Managing Director were nominated by HDFC Limited and appointed with the approval of theour shareholders and the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”)(RBI). Mr. Keki Mistry – Mistry—Vice Chairman &and Chief Executive Officer of HDFC Limited, and Mrs. Renu Karnad – Managing Director of HDFC Limited are also members of our Board of Directors. Effective July 16, 2010, Mrs. Renu Karnad retired from the Board of the Bank on completion of her tenure. See also “Principal Shareholders”. We have no agreements with HDFC Limited or any of its group companies that restrict us from competing with them. We currently offerdistribute products of HDFC Limited and its group companies, such as home loans of HDFC Limited, life and general insurance products of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited and HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited respectively and mutual funds of HDFC Asset Management Company Limited.

We had a cash outflow of approximately Rs. 6.55.8 billion, Rs. 6.97.9 billion and Rs. 6.010.0 billion in fiscals 2008, 20092011, 2012 and 2010,2013, respectively, principally for property, plant and equipment, including our branch network expansion and our technology and communications infrastructure. We have current plans for aggregate capital expenditures of approximately Rs. 5.95.8 billion in fiscal 2011.2014. This budgeted amount includes Rs. 1.10.8 billion to expand our branch and back office network, Rs. 1.1 billion to expand our ATM network, Rs. 0.20.5 billion to expand our Electronic Data Capture terminal network and Rs. 3.54.3 billion to upgrade and expand our hardware, data center, network and other systems. We may use these budgeted amounts for other purposes depending on, among other factors the business environment prevailing at the time, consequently our actual capital expenditures may be higher or lower than our budgeted amounts.

The Bank hasWe have two subsidiaries:subsidiaries as per local laws: HDFC Securities Limited (“HSL”) and HDB Financial Services Limited (“HDBFS”HDBFSL”). HSL is primarily in the business of providing brokerage services through the internet and other channels. HDBFSHDBFSL is a non-deposit taking non-bank finance company (“NBFC”). We have consolidated the accountsfinancial statements of Atlas Documentary Facilitators Company Private Ltd. (“ADFC”), which provides back office transaction processing services, in our U.S. GAAP financial statements.

Our principal corporate and registered office is located at HDFC Bank House, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013, India. Our telephone number is 91-22-6652-1000. Our agent in the United States for the 2007 ADS offering is Depositary Management Corporation, 570 Lexington Avenue, 44th Floor, New York, NY 10022 and that for the 2001 and 2005 ADS offerings and Patriot Act information gathering is CT Corporation, 111 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10011.

Our Competitive Strengths

We attribute our growth and continuing success to the following competitive strengths:

We are a leader among Indian banks in ourOur use of technology

Since our inception, we have madeWe continue to make substantial investments in our technology platform and systems. We have built multiple distribution channels, including ansystems and expand our electronically linked branch network, automated telephonenetwork. Our Bank’s direct banking internet bankingplatforms continue to be stable and banking through mobile phones, to offer ourrobust, supporting increasing transaction volumes as customers convenient access to our products.

We have templatized credit underwriting through automated customer data de-duplication and real-time scoring in our loan origination process. We have enhanced our cross selling and upselling capabilities through data mining and analytical customer relationship management solutions. Our technology enables us to have a 360 ⁰ view of our customers through entity resolution technology based customer data integration. We employ event detection technology based customer messaging and have deployed an enterprise wide data warehousing solution as a back bone to intelligence enable our enterprise.adopt newer self-service technologies.

We have introduced faster Automated Teller Machines (“ATMs”) by reducing customer clicks by approximately 40% through useseamlessly upgraded our switch platform which is at the heart of advanced personalization solutionsthe Bank’s ATM, point of sale and interactive voice response networks. Many additional services have now been made available on our ATMs. ImplementationBank’s NetBanking platform, which will enhance usage. The NetBanking services can now be accessed on a wide variety of commonly available handheld phones and devices. With the implementation of micro-ATMs, our Bank has leveraged technology to enable business in the under-banked and unbanked areas, while addressing financial inclusion mandates.

We have initiated a program to upgrade the retail core banking system to the latest technology platform and this is expected to be completed in fiscal 2014. The new retail core banking system, deployed on a more robust risk management engine for all our internet transactionsand available platform, has reduced phishingalso enabled the Bank to provide additional features to its customers and man-in-the-middle attacks significantly since October 2008. Additionally we offer our corporate internet banking customers a robust digital certificates based security engine. Creditrespond faster to business and debit cards usage by our customers is secured by powerful proactive risk manager technology solutions which undertake rules-based SMS alerts as well as prompt our customer service representatives to call the customer on detecting abnormal usage behavior to prevent fraud and minimize losses to customers. Sophisticated automatedmarket needs.

Live switch-over and switch-back solutions powerdrills of major IT applications have been completed, as part of our disaster recoveryBank’s Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery management strategy, for key core banking solutionsthereby enhancing our Bank’s readiness in our data center.

Our use of technology has driven the development of innovative product features, reduced our operating costs, enhanced customer service delivery and reduced inherent risks. We have been an early adopter of many of the new technology-based systems, such as: (a) a centralized core banking system; (b) an integrated data warehouse for retail banking; (c) mobile banking; (d) an on-line ATM switch and ATM solution with on-line authorization in the host; (e) an image-based data entry system for account opening; and (f) a digital signature based corporate internet banking solution using Public Key Infrastructure technology for our corporate customers. We believe that early adoption of new technologies has increased our efficiency and effectiveness and reduced turn-around times.responding to emergency situations.

We deliver high quality service with superior execution

We continued to improve Service Quality (SQ) across various customer contact points, including retail branches, ATMs and phone banking. With a view to ensure comprehensive improvement, we have extended SQ initiatives to the back office support functions as well. Our SQ team’s responsibilities include workplace organization, lobby management, handling of complaints, turn-around times and compliance with the Bank’s internal processes as well as regulatory processes pertaining to customer service. We have also improved training and skill development programs to enable employees to deliver a higher quality of customer service. We have also integrated certain technology platforms to provide a seamless and smooth service experience to our customers, for example, the complaints management CRM system has been integrated with the core CRM system. We also plan to integrate the client service portal (online tracking mechanism of deliverables) with the core CRM system. Through intensive training of our staff and the use of our technology platform, we believe, we deliver efficient service with rapid response time. Our focus on knowledgeable and personalized service, we believe, draws customers to our products and increases existing customer loyalty.

Many of our operational processes are certified under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2008. This certification requires the underlying processes to be robust, effective and efficient. The ISO certification ensures that: (a) we have a set of procedures that cover key processes; (b) our processes are monitored to ensure effectiveness; (c) adequate records are maintained; and (d) outputs are monitored for any defects so that appropriate and accurate remedial actions can be undertaken.

SomeWe have taken various steps to improve the effectiveness of our operational achievements, which we believe have enabled us to deliver high qualitygrievance redressal mechanism across our delivery channels. We periodically review the effectiveness of our overall customer service include: (i) deposit accounts are processed by our operations team with a turn-around-time of less than two working days; (ii) welcome kits are dispatched to customersinitiatives and grievance handling in particular at different levels within two working days of opening a deposit account; and (iii) internet banking personal identification numbers (PINs) are generated within one working day of a request logged in our systems.the Bank including at the Board level.

We offer a wide range of products to our clients in order to service their banking needs

Whether in retail or wholesale banking, we consider ourselves a “one-stop shop”‘one-stop shop’ for our customers’ banking needs. Our retail banking products range from almost all kinds of retail loans to deposit products and other products and services, such as private banking, depositary accounts, foreign exchange services, distribution of third party products such(such as insurance and mutual funds,funds), bill payments and sale of precious metals such(such as gold and silver.silver). In addition we offer our customers broking accounts through our subsidiary HDFC Securities Limited.HSL. On the wholesale banking side we offer customers working capital loans, term loans, bill collections, letters of credit and guarantees and forexforeign exchange and derivative products. In addition we offer a wide range of deposit and transaction banking services such as cash management, custodial and clearing bank services and correspondent banking. We collect taxes for the government and are bankers to issuances of equity shares and bonds to the public issues.by companies. Our wide range of products creates multiple cross-selling opportunities for us and, we believe, improves our customer retention rates.

We have an experienced management team

Many of the members of our senior management team have been with us since the inception of the Bank.our inception. They have substantial experience in banking across various countries and share our common vision of excellence in execution. We believe this team is well suited to leverage the competitive strengths we have already developed as well as to create new opportunities for our business. See also “Management”.

Our Business Strategy

Our business strategy emphasizes the following elements:

Increase our market share of India’s expanding banking and financial services industry

In addition to benefiting from the overall growth in India’s economy and financial services industry, we believe we can increase our market share by continuing to focus on our competitive strengths. We also aim to increase geographic and market penetration by expanding our branch and ATM networks and increasing our efforts to cross-sell our products.

Maintain strong asset quality through disciplined credit risk management

We have maintained high quality loan and investment portfolios through careful targeting of our customer base, and by putting in place what we believe are comprehensive risk assessment processes and diligent risk monitoring and remediation procedures. Our ratio of gross non-performing assets to customer assets was 1.4%0.8% as of March 31, 20102013 and our net non-performing assets amounted to 0.3%0.2% of net customer assets as per Indian GAAP. Additionally, the Bank hasassets. In addition, we have restructured the payment terms of certain loans. As of March 31, 2010,2013, these represented 0.3%0.1% of our gross customer assets.Weassets. We believe we can maintain strong asset quality appropriate to the loan portfolio composition, while achieving growth.

Maintain a low cost of funds

As of March 31, 2010, our average cost of funds (including equity) was 4.0% as per Indian GAAP. We believe we can maintain a relatively low-cost funding base as compared to our competitors, by leveraging on our strengths and expanding our base of retail savings and current deposits and increasing the free float generated by transaction services, such as cash management and stock exchange clearing. During fiscal 2013, our average cost of funds (including equity) was 5.2%.

Focus on high earnings growth with low volatility

Our aggregate earnings havenet income has grown at a compounded average rate of 30.1%36.3% during the five-year period endingended March 31, 2010.2013. We intend to maintain our focus on steady earnings growth through conservative risk management techniques and low-cost funding. In addition, we aim not to rely heavily on revenue derivedvolatile streams of income such as those from trading and other big ticket fees (such as those from investment banking) so as to limitmaintain earnings volatility.growth.

Our Principal Business Activities

Our principal business activities consist of retail banking, wholesale banking and treasury operations. The following table sets forth our net revenues attributable to each area for the last three years.

Retail Banking

Overview

We consider ourselves a one-stop shop for the financial needs of upper and middle income individuals. We provide a comprehensive range of financial products including deposit products, loans, credit cards, debit cards, third-party mutual funds and insurance products, investment advice, bill payment services and other services. Our retail banking loan products include loans to small and medium enterprises for commercial vehicles, construction equipment and other business purposes, which together account for slightly lessmore than a third of our total retail banking loans. We group these loans as part of our retail banking business considering, among other things, the customer profile, the nature of the product, the differing risks and returns, our organization structure and our internal business reporting mechanism. Such grouping ensures optimum utilization and deployment of specialized resources in our retail banking business. We also have specific products designed for lower income individuals through our Sustainable Livelihood Initiative (“SLI”). Through this initiative, we reach out to the un-banked and under-banked segments of the Indian population.

We market our services aggressively through our branches and alternate sales channels, as well as through our relationships with automobile dealers and corporate clients. We seek to establish a relationship with a retail customer and then expand it by offering more products. As part of our growth strategy we continue to expand our distribution channels so as to make it easier for the customer to do business with us. We believe this strategy, together with the general growth of the Indian economy and the Indian upper and middle classes, affords us significant opportunities for growth.

As of March 31, 2010,2013, we had 1,7253,062 branches including 9 extension counters, and 4,23210,743 ATMs in 779 cities.1,845 cities/towns. We also provide telephone banking, in 778 cities as well as internet and mobile banking.banking to our customers. We plan to continue to expand our branch and ATM network as well as our other distribution channels, subject to receiving regulatory guidelines/approvals.

Retail Loans and Other Asset Products

We offer a wide range of retail loans, including loans for the purchase of automobiles, personal loans, retail business banking loans, loans for the purchase of commercial vehicles and construction equipment finance, two-wheeler loans, credit cards and loans against securities. Our retail loans were 55.5%68.1 % of our gross loans of which 21.1% were unsecured as of March 31, 2010.2013. Apart from our branches, we use our ATM screens and the internet to promote our loan products and we employ additional sales methods depending on the type of products. We perform our own credit analyses of the borrowers and the value of the collateral. See “—Risk Management—Credit Risk—Retail Credit Risk.”Risk”. We also buy mortgage and other asset-backed securities and invest in retail loan portfolios through assignments. In addition to taking collateral in many cases, we generally obtain post-dated checks covering all payments at the time a retail loan is made. It is a criminal offense in India to issue a bad check. We also sometimes obtain instructions to debit the customer’s account directly for the making of payments. However, unsecured personal loans are still a greater credit risk for us than our secured loan portfolio because they are not supported by any collateral. We may be unable to collect in part or at all on an unsecured personal loan in the event of non-payment by the borrower. Accordingly, personal loans are granted at a higher loan yield since they carry a higher credit risk as compared to secured loans. Also see “Risk Factors—Our unsecured personal loan portfolio is not supported by any collateral that could help ensure repayment of the loan, and in the event of non-payment by a borrower of one of these loans, we may be unable to collect the unpaid balance.balance”.

The following table shows the value and share of our retail credit products:

Auto Loans

We offer loans at fixed interest rates for financing new and used automobile purchases. In addition to our general marketing efforts for retail loans, we market this product through our relationships with car dealers, direct sales agents, corporate packages and joint promotion programs with automobile manufacturers.

Personal Loans / Credit Cards

We offer unsecured personal loans at fixed rates to specific customer segments, including salaried individuals and self-employed professionals. In addition, we offer unsecured personal loans to small businesses and individual businessmen.

We also offer credit cards from the VISA and MasterCard stable, including gold, silver, corporate, platinum, titanium, signature, infinite, regalia, superia and world credit cards. We had approximately 6.4 million cards outstanding as of March 31, 2013, as against 5.6 million as of March 31, 2012.

Retail Business Banking

We address the borrowing needs of the community of small businessmen primarily located near our bank branches by offering facilities such as credit lines, term loans for expansion or addition of facilities and discounting of receivables. We classify these business banking loans as a retail product. Such lending is typically secured with current assets as well as immovable property and fixed assets in some cases. We also offer letters of credit, guarantees and other basic trade finance products, foreign exchange and cash management services to such businesses.

Commercial Vehicles and Construction Equipment Finance

We provide secured financing for commercial vehicles and provide working capital, bank guarantees and trade advances to transport operators. In addition to funding domestic assets, we also finance imported assets for which we open foreign letters of credit and offer treasury services, such as forward exchange covers. We coordinate with manufacturers to jointly promote our financing options to their clients.

Housing Loans

We provide home loans through an arrangement with HDFC Limited. Under this arrangement we sell loans provided by HDFC Limited through our branches. HDFC Limited approves and disburses the loans, which are kept on in their books, and we receive a sourcing fee for these loans. We have an option but not an obligation to purchase up to 70% of the fully disbursed home loans sourced under this arrangement through either the issue of mortgage backed pass through certificates (“PTCs”) or a direct assignment of loans. The balance will be retained by HDFC Limited.

Other Retail Loans

Two-Wheeler Loans

We offer loans for financing the purchase of scooters and motorcycles. We market this product in ways similar to our marketing of auto loans.

Credit Cards

We offer credit cards from the VISA and MasterCard stable, including gold, silver, corporate, platinum, titanium, signature, infinite and world credit cards. We had approximately 4.5 million cards outstanding as of March 31, 2010, as against 4.4 million as of March 31, 2009.

Loans Against Securities

We offer loans against equity shares, mutual fund units, bonds issued by the RBI and other securities that are on our approved list. We limit our loans against equity shares to Rs. 2.0 million per retail customer in line with regulatory guidelines and limit the amount of our total exposure secured by particular securities. We lend only against shares in book-entry (dematerialized) form, which ensures that we obtain perfected and first-priority security interests. The minimum margin for lending against shares is prescribed by the RBI.

Other Retail Loans

SuchWe also offer loans which primarily include overdrafts against time deposits, health care equipment financing loans, tractor loans, loans against gold and ornaments, loans to self-help groups and small loans to farmers.

Mortgage-backed Securities and Housing Loans

In fiscal 2003, we entered the home loan business through an arrangement with HDFC Limited. Under this arrangement, we sell home loans provided by HDFC Limited, which approves the credit sanctioning and disburses the loans. The loans are kept on the books of HDFC Limited, and we are paid a sourcing fee. Under the arrangement, HDFC Limited is obligated to offer us up to 70% of the disbursed home loans sourced under the arrangement through the issue of mortgage-backed pass-through certificates (“PTCs”) or through the loan assignment route. We have the option to purchase the mortgage-backed PTCs or the underlying loans at the underlying home loan yields less a spread of 1.25% payable towards the administration and servicing of the loans. A part of the home loans may also qualify for our directed lending requirement.

We also invest in mortgage-backed securities of other originators. These mortgages are generally in India. Most of these securities also qualify towards our directed lending obligations.

After the mergerour acquisition of CBoP, with HDFC Bank, the CBoP portfolio of home loans of CBoP was transferred to HDFC Bank’sour loan book.

Asset-backed Securities

We invest in auto loans, two-wheeler loans, commercial vehicle loans and other asset-backed securities, represented by PTCs. These securities are normally credit-enhanced and may qualify for our directed lending requirements. These assets are generally in India.

Loan Assignments

We purchase loan portfolios, generally in India, from other banks, financial institutions and financial companies, which are similar to asset-backed securities, except that such loans are not represented by PTCs. Some of these loans also qualify toward our directed lending obligations. Such loans are included within the categories described above based on underlying exposures.

Sale/Transfer of Receivables

We securitize our retail loan receivables through independent special purpose vehicles (“SPVs”)enter into assignment transactions from time to time. In respect of these transactions, we provide credit enhancements generally in the form of cash collateral/guarantees/interest spreads and/or by subordination of cash flows to senior PTCs. We also enter into sale transactions,time, which are similar to asset-backed securitization transactions through the SPV structure,special purpose entity (SPE) route, except that such portfolios of retail loan receivables are assigned directly to the purchaser and are not represented by PTCs. During fiscal 2009, we sold performingpass-through certificates. We also securitize our retail loans with carrying valuesloan receivables through independent SPEs. In respect of Rs. 22.2 billion.these transactions, recourse is in the form of our investment in subordinated securities issued by SPEs, cash collateral and other credit and liquidity enhancements. In fiscal 2010fiscals 2012 and 2013, we did not sell any performing loans.

Sustainable Livelihood Initiative

Our SLI targets lower income individuals to finance their economic activity, and also provide skill training, credit counseling, and market linkages for better price discovery. Through this initiative we reach out to the un-banked and under-banked segments of the Indian population.

Retail Deposit Products

Retail deposits provide us with a low cost, stable funding base and have been a key focus area for us since commencing operations. Retail deposits represented 67.1%approximately 75.0% of our total deposits as of March 31, 2010 as per Indian GAAP.2013. The following chart shows the number of accounts and value of our retail deposits by our various deposit products:

Our individual retail account holders have access to the benefits of a wide range of direct banking services, including debit and ATM cards, access to internet and phone banking services, access to our growing branch and ATM network, access to our other distribution channels and eligibility for utility bill payments and other services. Our retail deposit products include the following:

We also offer special value-added accounts, which offer our customers added value and convenience. These include a time deposit account that allows for automatic transfers from a time deposit account to a savings account, as well as a time deposit account with an automatic overdraft facility.

Other Retail Services and Products

Debit Cards

OurWe had around 15.8 million debit cards mayoutstanding as of March 31, 2013 as compared to 14.1 million as of March 31, 2012. The cards can be used with more than 450,000 merchant point-of-sale machinesat ATMs and over 50,000 ATMspoint-of-sales terminals in India and more than 27 million merchant outlets and 1.6 million ATMs worldwide. We werein other countries across the first in India to issue international Visa Electron debit cards on a nationwide basis and currently issue both Visa and MasterCard debit cards.world.

Individual Depositary Accounts

We provide depositary accounts to individual retail customers for holding debt and equity instruments. Securities traded on the Indian exchanges are generally not held through a broker’s account or in a street name. Instead, an individual has his own account with a depositary participant. Depositary participants, including us, provide services through the major depositaries established by the two major stock exchanges. Depositary participants record ownership details and effectuate transfers in book-entry form on behalf of the buyers and sellers of securities. We provide a complete package of services, including account opening, registration of transfers and other transactions and information reporting.

Mutual Fund Sales

We offer our retail customers units in most of the large and reputable mutual funds in India. In some cases we earn front-end commissions for new sales and additional fees in subsequent years. We distribute mutual fund products primarily through our branches and our private banking advisors.

Insurance

As of March 31, 2010, we hadWe have arrangements with HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited and HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited to distribute their life insurance products and general insurance products respectively, to our customers. We earn upfront commissions on new premiums collected as well as some trailing income in subsequent years in some cases while the policy is still in force.

Precious Metals

We import gold and silver bars for sale to our retail customers through our branch network.

Investment Advice

We offer our customers a broad range of investment advice, including advice regarding the purchase of Indian debt, equity shares and mutual funds. We provide our high net worth private banking customers with a personal investment advisor who can consult with them on their individual investment needs.

Bill Payment Services

We offer our customers utility bill payment services for leading utility companies, including electricity, telephone and internet service providers. Customers can also review and access their bill details through our direct banking channels. We believe this is a valuable convenience that we offer our customers. We offer these services to customers through multiple distribution channels—ATMs, telephone banking, internet banking and mobile telephone banking.

Corporate Salary Accounts

We offer Corporate Salary Accounts, which allow employers to make salary payments to a group of employees with a single transfer. We then transfer the funds into the employees’ individual accounts and offer them preferred services, such as preferential loan rates, and in some cases lower minimum balance requirements. As of March 31, 2010,2013, these accounts constituted approximately 47.7%44% of our total retail savings accounts by number and approximately 31.6%29% of our retail savings deposits by value.

Non-Resident Indian Services

Non-resident Indians are an important target market segment for us given their relative affluence and strong ties with family members in India. Our non-resident deposits amounted to Rs. 100.1291.8 billion as of March 31, 2010.2013.

Retail Foreign Exchange

We purchase foreign currency from and sell foreign currency to retail customers in the form of cash, traveler’s checks, demand drafts, foreign exchange cards and other remittances, including services offered in partnership with third parties, such as Western Union.remittances. We also carry out foreign currency check collections.

Customers and Marketing

Our target market for our retail services is comprised of upper and middle income individuals and high net worth customers. We also target small businesses, trusts and non-profit corporations. As of March 31, 2010, 10%2013, around 14% of our retail deposit customers contributed approximately 35%71% of our retail deposits. We market our products through our branches, telemarketing and a dedicated sales staff for niche market segments. We also use third-party agents and direct sales associates to market certain products and to identify prospective new customers.

Additionally, we obtain new customers through joint marketing efforts with our wholesale banking department, such as our Corporate Salary Account package. We cross-sell many of our retail products to our customers. We also market our auto loan and two-wheeler loan products through joint efforts with relevant manufacturers and distributors.

We have programs that target other particular segments of the retail market. For example, our private and preferred banking programs provide customized financial planning to high net worth individuals in order to preserve and enhance their wealth. Private banking customers receive a personal investment advisor who serves as their single-point contact and compiles personalized portfolio tracking products, including mutual fund and equity tracking statements. Our private banking program also offers equity investment advisory products. While not as service-intensive as our private banking program, preferred banking offers similar services to a slightly broader target segment. Top revenue-generating customers of our preferred banking program are channeled into our private banking program.

Wholesale Banking

Overview

We provide our corporate and institutional clients a wide array of commercial banking products and transactional services with an emphasis on high quality customer service and relationship management.services.

Our principal commercial banking products include a range of financing products, documentary credits (primarily letters of credit) and bank guarantees, foreign exchange and derivative products and corporate deposit products. Our financing products include loans, overdrafts, bill discounting and credit substitutes, such as commercial papers, debentures, preference shares and other funded products. Our foreign exchange and derivatives products assist corporations in managing their currency and interest rate exposures.

For our commercial banking products, our customers include companies that are part of private sector business houses, public sector enterprises and multinational corporations, as well as small and mid-sized businesses. Our customers also include suppliers and distributors of corporations to whom we provide credit facilities and with whom we thereby establish relationships as part of a supply chain initiative for both our commercial banking products and transactional services. We aim to provide our corporate customers with high quality customized service. We have relationship managers who focus on particular clients and who work with teams that specialize in providing specific products and services, such as cash management and treasury advisory services.

Loans to small and medium enterprises, which are generally in the nature of loans for commercial vehicles, construction equipment and business purposes, are included as part of our retail banking business. We group these loans as part of our retail banking business considering, among other things, the customer profile, the nature of the product, the differing risks and returns, our organization structure and our internal business reporting mechanism. Such grouping ensures optimum utilization and deployment of specialized resources in our retail banking business.

Our principal transactional services include cash management services, capital markets transactional services and correspondent banking services. We provide physical and electronic payment and collection mechanisms to a range of corporations, financial institutions and government entities. Our capital markets transactional services include custodial services for mutual funds and clearing bank services for the major Indian stock exchanges and commodity exchanges. In addition, we provide correspondent banking services, including cash management services and funds transfers, to foreign banks and cooperativeco-operative banks.

Commercial Banking Products

Commercial Loan Products and Credit Substitutes

Our principal financing products are working capital facilities and term loans. Working capital facilities primarily consist of cash credit facilities and bill discounting. Cash credit facilities are revolving credits provided to our customers that are secured by working capital such as inventory and accounts receivable. Bill discounting consists of short-term loans which are secured by bills of exchange that have been accepted by our customers or drawn on another bank. In many cases, we provide a package of working capital financing that may consist of loans and a cash credit facility as well as documentary credits or bank guarantees. Term loans consist of short-short-term loans and medium-term loans which are typically loans of up to five years in duration. More than 90% of our loans are denominated in rupees with the balance being denominated in various foreign currencies, principally the U.S. dollar.

We also purchase credit substitutes, which are typically comprised of commercial paper debentures and preference sharesdebentures issued by the same customers with whom we have a lending relationship in our wholesale banking business. Investment decisions for credit substitute securities are subject to the same credit approval processes as loans, and we bear the same customer risk as we do for loans extended to these customers. Additionally, the yield and maturity terms are generally directly negotiated by us with the issuer. Our credit substitutes have declined over the last three years primarily due to our customers’ increased preference for loans which may have resulted from regulations that require the listing and rating of corporate paper.

The following table sets forth the asset allocation of our commercial loans and financing products by asset type. For accounting purposes, we classify cash credit facilities and bill discounting as working capital loans, and commercial paper debentures and preference sharesdebentures as credit substitutes (which in turn are classified as investments).

While we generally lend on a cash-flow basis, we also require collateral from a large number of our borrowers. As of March 31, 2010,2013, approximately 67.8%72.9% of the aggregate principal amount of our gross wholesale loans was secured by collateral (approximately Rs. 189.3219.0 billion in aggregate principal amount of loans were unsecured). However, collateral securing each individual loan may not be adequate in relation to the value of the loan. All borrowers must meet our internal credit assessment procedures, regardless of whether the loan is secured. See “—Risk Management—Credit Risk—Wholesale Credit Risk.”Risk”.

We price our loans based on a combination of our own cost of funds, market rates, our rating of the customer and the overall revenues from the customer. An individual loan is priced on a fixed or floating rate, the pricing is based on a margin that depends on the credit assessment of the borrower. We are required to follow the Base Rate System while pricing our loans. For a detailed discussion of these requirements, see “Supervision and Regulation—Regulations Relating to Making Loans”.

The RBI requires banks to lend to specific sectors of the economy. For a detailed discussion of these requirements, see “Supervision and Regulation—Regulations Relating to Making Loans—Directed Lending.”Lending”.

Bill Collection, Documentary Credits and Bank Guarantees

We provide bill collection, documentary credit facilities and bank guarantees for our corporate customers. Documentary credits and bank guarantees are typically provided on a revolving basis. The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the value of transactions processed with respect to our bill collection, documentary credits and bank guarantees:

Bill collection.collection: We provide bill collection services for our corporate clients in which we collect bills on behalf of a corporate client from the bank of our client’s customer. We do not advance funds to our client until receipt of payment.

Documentary credits.credits: We issue documentary credit facilities on behalf of our customers for trade financing, sourcing of raw materials and capital equipment purchases.

Bank guarantees.guarantees: We provide bank guarantees on behalf of our customers to guarantee their payment or performance obligations. A largesmall part of our guarantee portfolio consists of margin guarantees to brokers issued in favor of stock exchanges.

Foreign Exchange and Derivatives

Our foreign exchange and derivative product offering to our customers covers a range of products, including foreign exchange and interest rate transactions and hedging solutions, such as spot and forward foreign exchange contracts, forward rate agreements, currency swaps, currency options and interest rate derivatives. These transactions enable our customers to transfer, modify or reduce their foreign exchange and interest rate risks. A specified group of relationship managers from our Treasurytreasury front office works on such product offerings jointly with the relationship managers from Wholesale Banking.

Forward exchange contracts are commitments to buy or sell foreign currency at a future date at the contracted rate. A currency option is a contract where the purchaser of the option has the right but not the obligation to either purchase or sell and the seller of the option agrees to sell or purchase an agreed amount of a specified currency at a price agreed in advance and denominated in another currency on a specified date or by an agreed date in the future. A forward rate agreement is a financial contract between two parties to exchange interest payments for a ‘notional principal’ amount on the settlement date, for a specified period from the start date to the maturity date. Currency swaps are commitments to exchange cash flows by way of interest in one currency against another currency and exchange of principal amounts at maturity based on predetermined rates. Rupee interest rate swaps are commitments to exchange fixed and floating rate cash flows in rupees. A forward rate agreement gives the buyer the ability to determine the underlying rate of interest for a specified period commencing on a specified future date (the settlement date) when the settlement amount is determined being the difference between the contracted rate and the market rate on the settlement date. Currency options give the buyer, the right but not an obligation, to buy or sell specified amounts of currency at agreed rates of exchange on or before a specified future date.

The following table presents the aggregate notional principal amounts of our outstanding foreign exchange and derivative contracts with our customers as of March 31, 2008, 20092011, 2012 and 2010,2013, together with the fair values on each reporting date:

Investment banking

We have recently launchedOur investment banking services.group has made progress in both the debt and equity capital markets business. We currentlyadded a corporate finance and advisory team during fiscal 2013. We believe we are now well positioned to offer the entire gamut of investment banking services to our clients. We also focus on providing debt and loan syndication as well as private placements as an added offering for our wholesale banking customers.in telecommunications, roads, financial services and other sectors.

Precious Metals

We are in the business of importing gold and silver bullion to leverage our distribution and servicing strengths and cater to the domestic bullion trader segment. We generally import bullion on a consignment basis so as to minimize price risk. The imports are typically on a back-to-back basis and are priced to the customer based on the price quoted by the supplier. We earn a fee on such wholesale bullion transactions.

Wholesale Deposit Products

As of March 31, 2010,2013, we had wholesale deposits totalingaggregating over Rs. 550.6743.7 billion, which represented 32.9%25.1% of our total deposits and 22.8% of our total liabilities, including shareholders’ equity.deposits. We offer both non-interest bearing current accounts and time deposits. We are allowed to vary the interest rates on our wholesale deposits based on the size of the deposit (for deposits greater than Rs. 1.5 million) so long as the rates booked on a day are the same for all customers of that deposit size for that maturity. See “Selected Statistical Information” for further information about our total deposits. With effect from April 1, 2013, the RBI increased the above threshold of Rs. 1.5 million to Rs. 10.0 million.

Transactional Services

Cash Management Services

We provide cash management services in India. We were among the top three banks in India with respect to managing National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payments based on statistics published by RBI. We received the Asset Triple A Award for The Best Cash Management Bank in India during the fiscal year ended March 2010. Our services make it easier for our corporate customers to expedite inter-city check collections, make payments to their suppliers more efficiently, optimize liquidity and reduce interest costs. In addition to benefiting from the cash float, which reduces our overall cost of funds, we may also earn commissions for these services.

Our primary cash management service is check collection and payment. Through our electronically linked branch network, correspondent bank arrangements and centralized processing, we can effectively provide nationwide collection and disbursement systems for our corporate clients. This is especially important because there is no nationwide payment system in India, and checks must generally be returned to the city from which written, in order to be cleared. Because of mail delivery delays and the variations in city-based inter-bank clearing practices, check collections can be slow and unpredictable, and can lead to uncertainty and inefficiencies in cash management. We believe, we have a strong position in this area relative to most other participants in this market. Although the public sector banks have extensive branch networks, many of their branches typically are still not electronically linked. The foreign banks are restricted in their ability to expand their branch network.

As of March 31, 2010, over 4,000Our wholesale banking clients usedalso use our cash management services. These clients include leading Indian private sector companies, public sector undertakings and multinational companies. We also provide these services to most Indian insurance companies, many mutual funds, brokers, financial institutions and various government entities.

We have also implemented a straight-through processing solution to link our wholesale banking and retail banking systems. This has led to reduced manual intervention in transferring funds between the corporate accounts which are in the wholesale banking system and beneficiary accounts residing in retail banking systems. This initiative will helphelps reduce transaction costs.Wecosts. We have a large number of commercial clients using our corporate Internet banking for financial transactions with their vendors, dealers and employees who bank with us.

In 2005, the RBI introduced an inter-bank settlement system called the Real Time Gross Settlement (“RTGS”)(RTGS) system. The RTGS system facilitates real time settlements primarily between banks and therefore could have an adverse impact on our cash management services. However, we believe our cash management services offer certain advantages not present in RTGS, including the provision of greater information to our clients regarding the source and identity of payments. In addition, through our cash management services our clients receive checks from their customers, which we believe many of our clients prefer because the issuance of a bad check is a criminal offense in India. See “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—We could be adversely affected by theThe development of a well entrenched nationwide inter-bank settlement system.system would adversely impact our cash float and decrease fees we receive in connection with check collection”.

Clearing Bank Services for Stock and Commodity Exchanges

We serve as a cash-clearing bank for major stock and commodity exchanges in India, including the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (“National Stock Exchange”) and the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited or BSE Limited. As a clearing bank, we provide the exchanges or their clearing corporations with a means for collecting cash payments due to them from their members or custodians and a means of making payments to these institutions. We make payments once the broker or custodian deposits the funds with us. In addition to benefiting from the cash float, which reduces our overall cost of funds, in certain cases we also earn commissions on such services.

Custodial Services

We provide custodial services principally to Indian mutual funds, as well as to domestic and international financial institutions. These services include safekeeping of securities and collection of dividend and interest payments on securities. Most of the securities under our custody are in book-entry (dematerialized) form, although we provide custody for securities in physical form as well for our wholesale banking clients. We earn revenue from these services based on the value of assets under safekeeping and the value of transactions handled.

Correspondent Banking Services

We act as a correspondent bank for cooperativeco-operative banks, cooperativeco-operative societies and foreign banks. We provide cash management services, funds transfers and services, such as letters of credit, foreign exchange transactions and foreign check collection. We earn revenue on a fee-for-service basis and benefit from the cash float, which reduces our overall cost of funds.

We are well positioned to offer this service to cooperativeco-operative banks and foreign banks in light of the structure of the Indian banking industry and our position within it. CooperativeCo-operative banks are generally restricted to a particular state and foreign banks have limited branch networks. The customers of these banks frequently need services in other areas of the country thatwhere their own banks cannot provide. Because of our technology platforms, our geographical reach and the electronic connectivity of our branch network, we can provide these banks with the ability to provide such services to their customers. By contrast, although the public sector banks have extensive branch networks and also provide correspondent banking services, many of them have not yet created electronically connected networks and their branches typically operate independently of one another.

Tax Collections

We were the first private sector bank to be appointed by the government of India to collect direct taxes. In fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010,2013, we collected more than Rs. 7001,225 billion and Rs. 800 billion, respectively, of direct taxes for the government of India. We are also appointed to collect sales, excise and service tax within certain jurisdictions in India. In fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010,2013, we collected over Rs. 160Rs.583 billion and Rs. 200 billion, respectively, of such indirect taxes for the government of India and relevant state governments. We earn a fee from each tax collection and benefit from the cash float. We hope to expand our range of transactional services by providing more services to government entities.

Treasury

Our Treasury Grouptreasury group manages our balance sheet, including our maintenance of reserve requirements and the management of market and liquidity risk. Our Treasury Grouptreasury group also provides advice and execution services to our corporate and institutional customers with respect to their foreign exchange and derivatives transactions. In addition, our Treasury Grouptreasury group seeks to optimize profits from our proprietary trading, which is principally concentrated on Indian government securities.

Our client-based activities consist primarily of advising corporate and institutional customers and transacting spot and forward foreign exchange contracts and derivatives. Our primary customers are multinational corporations, large and medium sized domestic corporations, financial institutions, banks and public sector undertakings. We also advise and enter into foreign exchange contracts with some small companies and non-resident Indians.

The following describes our activities in the foreign exchange and derivatives markets, domestic money markets and debt securities desk and equities market. See also “—Risk“Risk Management” for a discussion of our management of market risk including liquidity risk, interest rate risk and foreign exchange risk.

Foreign Exchange and Derivatives

We enter into forward exchange contracts, currency options, forward rate agreements, currency swaps and rupee interest rate swaps with inter-bank participants, similar to our Wholesale Banking business, where we enter into such transactions with our customers. To support our clients’ activities, we are an active participant in the Indian inter-bank foreign exchange market. We also trade, to a more limited extent, for our own account. We also engage in proprietary trades of rupee-based interest rate swaps and use them as part of our asset liability management. Forward exchange contracts are commitments to buy or sell foreign currency at a future date at the contracted rate. A currency option is a contract where the purchaser of the option has the right but not the obligation to either purchase or sell and the seller of the option agrees to sell or purchase an agreed amount of a specified currency at a price agreed in advance and denominated in another currency on a specified date or by an agreed date in the future. A forward rate agreement is a financial contract between two parties to exchange interest payments for a ‘notional principal’ amount on the settlement date, for a specified period from the start date to the maturity date. Currency swaps are commitments to exchange cash flows by way of interest in one currency against another currency and exchange of principal amountamounts at maturity based on predetermined rates. Rupee interest rate swaps are commitments to exchange fixed and floating rate cash flows in rupees. A forward rate agreement gives the buyer the ability to determine the underlying rate of interest for a specified period commencing on a specified future date (the settlement date) when the settlement amount is determined being the difference between the contracted rate and the market rate on the settlement date. Currency options give the buyer, the right but not an obligation, to buy or sell specified amounts of currency at agreed rates of exchange on or before a specified future date.

The following table presents the aggregate notional principal amounts of our outstanding foreign exchange and derivative inter-bank contracts as of March 31, 2008, 20092011, 2012 and 2010,2013, together with the fair values on each reporting date:

Domestic Money Market and Debt Securities Desk

Our principal activity in the domestic money market and debt securities market is to ensure that we comply with our reserve requirements. These consist of a cash reserve ratio, which we meet by maintaining balances with the RBI, and a statutory liquidity ratio, which we meet by purchasing Indian government securities. See also “Supervision and Regulation—Legal Reserve Requirements.”Requirements”. Our local currency desk primarily trades Indian government securities for our own account. We also participate in the inter-bank call deposit market and engage in limited trading of other debt instruments.

Equities Market

We trade a limited amount of equities of Indian companies for our own account. As of March 31, 2010,2013, we had an internal approved limit of Rs.Rs 400 million for secondary market purchases and Rs. 100Rs.100 million for primary purchases of equity investments for proprietary trading and our exposure as of March 31, 20102013 was within the said limits. We set limits on the amount invested in any individual company as well as stop-loss limits.

Distribution Channels

We deliver our products and services through a variety of distribution channels, including branches, ATMs, telephone and mobile telephone banking and internet banking.

Branches

As of March 31, 2010,2013, we had an aggregate of 1,7253,062 branches including 9 extension counters. Ourcovering 1845 cities/ towns. The increase in branch network covers 779 cities.during the year included 193 micro branches which are primarily two or three member branches set up to enhance penetration in rural markets, including in unbanked areas. All of our branches are electronically linked so that our customers can access their accounts from any branch regardless of where they have their accounts.

Almost all of our branches focus exclusively on providing retail services and products, though a few also provide wholesale banking services. The range of products and services available at each branch depends in part on the size and location of the branch. Our extension counters typically are small offices, primarily within office buildings, that provide specific commercialWe offer various banking services to our customers through our arrangements with correspondent banks and retail banking services.exchange houses in overseas locations.

As part of its branch licensing conditions, the RBI requires that at least 25% of ourall incremental branches (not including extension counters)added during the year must be located in semi-urban orunbanked rural areas. A semi-urban area is defined as a center with a population of greater than 10,000 but less than 100,000 people. A rural area is defined as a center with a population of less than 10,000 people. These population figures relate to the(based on 2001 census conducted by the government of India.India). As of March 31, 2010, 5842013, 504 of our branches (not including extension counters) were in such semi-urban or rural areas. Recently theThe RBI has given a general permission to Scheduled Commercial Banks to open branches in locations having a population lower than 50,000100,000 and in the case of the north eastern states of India including the state of Sikkim without having the need to obtain prior approvals. TheSuch banks are directedrequired to report fullcomplete details of the branches opened in terms of the abovepursuant to such general permission. We offer various banking services to our customers through our arrangements with correspondent banks and exchange houses in overseas locations.

We have representative offices in the United Arab Emirates and Kenya and have a wholesale banking branch in Bahrain which commenced operationsBahrain. We have a full service banking branch in September 2008.Hong Kong. Through this branch, we provide services to Indian corporates and their affiliates to cater to their international banking requirements.requirements, as well as to retail customers.

Automated Teller Machines

As of March 31, 2010,2013, we had a total of 4,23210,743 ATMs, of which 2,3114,344 were located at our branches or extension counters and 1,9216,399 were located off site, including at large residential developments, or on major roads in metropolitan areas.

Customers can use our ATMs for a variety of functions, including withdrawing cash, monitoring bank balances, depositing cash / chequeschecks and paying utility bills. Customers can access their accounts from any of the HDFC Bank ATMs or Non-HDFCnon-HDFC Bank ATMs. ATM cards issued by other banks in the Plus, Cirrus and Amex networks can be used in our ATMs and we receive a fee for each transaction. Our Debit Cardsdebit cards can be used on ATMs of other banks while our ATM cards can be used on most of the ATM networks (other than Visa and Mastercard).networks.

Telephone Banking

We provide telephone banking services to our customers in 778 cities.1,843 cities/ towns. Customers can access their accounts over the phone through our 24-hour automated voice response system and can order check books, conduct balance inquiries and order stop payments on checks. In select cities, customers can also engage in financial transactions (such as cash transfers, opening deposits and ordering demand drafts). In certain cities, we also have staff available during select hours to assist customers who want to speak directly to one of our telephone bankers.

Mobile Telephone Banking

Using our mobile banking platform, customers can perform enquiry based non-financial transactions such as balance enquiries, requests for account statements and requests for mini statementsmini-statements of their transactions etc. We offer our customers the ability to carry out financial transactions from their mobile phone using “ ngpay.”“ngpay”. Customers can carry out financial transactions, such as transferring funds within and outside the Bank and mobile commerce using their HDFC Bank account by downloading this application on their mobile phone.phones.

Internet Banking

Through our “net banking” channel, customers can access account information, track transactions, order check books, request stop check payments, transfer funds between accounts and to third parties who maintain accounts with us, open fixed deposits, give instructions for the purchase and sale of units in mutual funds, pay bills and make demand draft requests. We encourage use of our internet banking service by offering some key services for free or at a lower cost.

Risk Management

Risk is inherent in our business and sound risk management is critical to our success. The major types of risk we face are credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk and operational risk. We have developed and implemented comprehensive policies and procedures to identify, assess, monitor and manage risk throughout the Bank.our risk.

Credit Risk

Credit risk is the possibility of loss due to the failure of any counterparty to abide by the terms and conditions of any financial contract with us. We identify and manage this risk through (a) our target market definitions, (b) our credit approval process, (c) our post-disbursement monitoring and (d) our remedial management procedures.

Wholesale Credit Risk

The Wholesale Credit Riskwholesale credit risk team, within the Credit and& Market Risk Department,Group, is primarily responsible for implementing the credit risk strategy approved by the Board, developing procedures and systems for managing credit risk, carrying out an independent assessment of credit risk, approving individual credit exposures and ensuring portfolio composition and quality. In addition to the credit approval process, there is also aan independent framework for the review and approval of credit ratings.

For our wholesale banking products, we seek to target the leaders in each of the segments that we operate in. Thus, we target leading private businesses and public sector enterprises in the country, subsidiaries of multinational corporations and leaders in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) segment. We also have product specific offerings for entities engaged in the capital markets and commodities businesses.

We consider credit risk of a counter-party comprehensively, and thus, our credit policies and procedures apply to not only credit exposures but also credit substitutes and contingent exposures. The Bank’sOur Credit Policies & Procedure Manual and Credit Programs, (“Credit Policies”)Program, (Credit Policies) are central in controlling credit risk in various activities and products. These articulate theour credit risk strategy of the Bank and thereby the approach for credit origination, approval and maintenance. The Credit Policies generally address such areas as target markets, portfolio mix, prudential exposure ceilings, concentration limits, price and non-price terms, structure of limits, approval authorities, exception reporting system, prudential accounting and provisioning norms.

Each credit is evaluated by the business units against the credit standards prescribed in theour Credit Policies of the Bank.Policies. They are then subjected to a greater degree of risk analysis based on product type and customer profile by credit risk specialists in the Credit and& Market Risk Department.Group.

The Bank hasWe have in place a process of risk grading each borrower according to its financial health and the performance of its business and each borrower is assigned agraded on an alphanumeric rating on a scale of HDB 1 to HDB 10 (1(HDB 1 indicating the best and HDB 10 the worst)worst rating; HDB 1 to HDB 7 are investment grade ratings while HDB 8 or worse are non-investment grade ratings). We have specific models applicable to each significant segment of wholesale credit (e.g. large corporate, SME – SME—manufacturing, SME – SME—Services and NBFC)NBFCs). Each model assesses the overall risk over four major categories – categories—industry risk, business risk, management risk and financial risk. The inputs in each of the categories are combined to provide an aggregate numerical rating, which is a function of the aggregate weighted scoresscore based on the assessment under each of these four risk categories.categories, correspond to a specific alphanumeric rating.

Based on what we believe is an adequately comprehensive risk assessment, credit exposure limits are set on individual counterparties. These limits take into account the overall potential exposure on the counterparty, be it on balance sheet or off balance sheet, across the banking book and the trading book, including foreign exchange and derivatives exposures. These are reviewed in detail at annual or more frequent intervals.

We do not extend credit on the judgment of one officer alone. TheOur credit approval process at the Bank is based on a three approval system that combines credit approval authorities and discretionary powers. The required three approvals are provided by Credit Approverscredit approvers who derive their authority from their credit skills and experience. The level for approval of a credit varies depending upon the grading of the borrower, the quantum of facilities required and whether we have been dealing with the customer by providing him credit facilities in the past. Thus, initial approvals would typically require a higher level of approval for a borrower with the same grading and for sanctioning the same facility.

To ensure adequate diversification of risk, concentration limits have been set up in terms of:

a) Borrower / business group—: Exposure to a borrower/business group is subject to the general ceilings established by the RBI from time to time, or specific approval by RBI. The exposure-ceiling limit for a single borrower is 15 percent15% of the Bank’sa bank’s capital funds. This limit may be exceeded by an additional 5 percent5% (i.e. up to 20 percent)20%) provided the additional credit exposure is on account of lending to infrastructure projects. The exposure-ceiling limit in the case of a borrower group is 40 percent40% of the Bank’sbank’s capital funds. This limit may be exceeded by an additional 10 percent10% (i.e. up to 50 percent)50%) provided the additional credit exposure is on account of extensions of credit for infrastructure projects. In addition to the above exposure limit, the Banka bank may, in exceptional circumstances, with the approval of its Board,board, consider increasing its exposure to a borrower up to an additional 5 percent5% of its capital funds. For certain blue chip clients and reputed groups or in particular for entities whose borrowings / bonds qualify as Priority Sector Lending, the Banka bank may approach the RBI for single/group borrower ceilings higher than the prescribed limits. Exposures (both lending and investment, including off balance sheet exposures) of the Banka bank to a single Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) / NBFC – NBFC—Asset Financing Company (AFC) / NBFC – NBFC—Infrastructure Finance Company (IFC) should not exceed 10%, 15%, and 15% respectively of the Bank’sbank’s capital funds. The Bankbank may, however, assume exposures on a single NBFC /NBFC-AFC /NBFC-IFC, up to 15%, 20% and 20% respectively, of its capital funds, provided the exposure in excess of 10%, 15% and 15% specified earlier is on account of funds on-lent by the NBFC /NBFC-AFC / NBFC-IFC to the infrastructure sector.

b) Industry—: Exposure to any one industry cannot exceed 12 percent12% of aggregate exposures – exposures—for this purpose advances and investments (customer assets)as well as non-fund based exposures are aggregated. Retail advances are exempt from such ceiling. Further, exposure to banks and state sponsored financial institutions is capped at a level of 25 percent.25%.

c) Risk grading—The Bank does not assume any incremental exposures on borrowers with an internal risk grading of 7 or worse, except on a highly secured basis or as part of a rehabilitation/restructuring plan. Further,: In addition to the Bank hasalphanumeric rating scale described above, we have set quantitative ceilings on aggregate funded plus non-funded exposure (excluding retail assets) specific to each risk rating category.

While we primarily make our credit decisions on a cash flow basis, we also obtain security for a significant portion of credit facilities extended by the Bankus as a second potential remedy. This can take the form of a floating charge on the movable assets of the borrower or a (first or residual) charge on the fixed assets and properties owned by the borrower. We may also require guarantees and letters of support from the flagship companies of the group in cases where facilities are granted based on our comfort level or relationship with the parent company.

We have a process for regular monitoring of all accounts at several levels. These include periodic calls toon the customer, plant visits, credit reviews and monitoring of secondary data. These are designed to detect any early warning signals of deterioration in credit quality so that we can take timely corrective action.

The RBI restricts us from lending to companies with which we have any directors in common. Also, the RBI directs a portion of our lending to certain specified sectors (“Priority(Priority Sector Lending”)Lending). See “Supervision and Regulation – Regulation—Regulations Relating to Making Loans – Loans—Directed Lending”.

Retail Credit Risk

The Bank offersWe offer a range of retail products, such as auto loans, personal loans, credit cards, business banking, two-wheeler loans, loans against securities, commercial vehicle loans, construction equipment loans, loans to transport operators and credit cards.loans. Our retail credit policy and approval process are designed for the fact that we have high volumes of relatively homogeneous, small value transactions in each retail loan category.loans. There are product programs for each of these products, which define the target markets, credit philosophy and process, detailed underwriting criteria for evaluating individual credits, exception reporting systems and individual loan exposure caps.

For individual customers to be eligible for a loan, minimum credit parameters, so defined, are to be met for each product. Any deviations therefrom need to be approved at the designated levels. The product parameters have been selected based on the perceived risk characteristics specific to the product. The quantitative parameters considered include income, residence stability, the nature of the employment/business, while the qualitative parameters include accessibility, contactability and profile. Our credit policies/product programs are based on a statistical analysis of our own experience and industry data, in combination with the judgment of our senior officers.

The Retail Credit Riskretail credit risk team manages Credit Riskcredit risk in retail assets and has the following constituents:

(a) Central Risk Unit: The Central Risk Unitcentral risk unit drives credit risk management centrally for retail assets. It is responsible for formulating policies and evaluates proposals for launch of new products and new geographies. The Central Risk Unitcentral risk unit also conducts periodic reviews that cover Portfolio MIS, Creditportfolio management information system (MIS), credit MIS and Post-Approval Reviews.post-approval reviews. The product risk teams conduct detailed studies on portfolio performance in each customer segment.

(b) Retail Underwriting: This unit is primarily responsible for approving individual credit exposures and ensuring portfolio composition and quality. The unit ensures implementation of all policies/procedures, as applicable.

(c) Risk Intelligence and Control: This unit is responsible for sampling of documents to ensure prospective borrowers with fraudulent intent are prevented from availing themselves of loans. The unit initiates market reference checks to avoid recurrence of frauds and financial loss to the Bank.losses.

(d) Retail Collections Unit: This unit is responsible for remedial management of problem exposures in retail assets. The collections unit uses specific strategies for various segments and products for remedial management.

We mine data on our borrower account behavior andas well as static data regularly to monitor the portfolio performance of each product segment regularly, and use these as inputs in revising our product programs, target market definitions and credit assessment criteria to meet our twin objectives of combining volume growth and maintenance of asset quality.

Our retailsretail loans are generally secured by a charge on the asset financed (in two-wheeler, auto, commercial vehicle(vehicle loans, property loans and loans against gold and securities),. Retail business banking loans are secured with current assets as well as immovable property and fixed assets in some cases. However, collateral securing each individual loan may not be adequate in relation to the value of the loan. If the customer fails to pay, we would, as applicable, liquidate collateral and/or set off accounts. In most cases we obtain direct debit instructions or post-dated checks from the customer. It is a criminal offence in India to issue a bad check.

Market Risk

Market risk refers to the potential loss on account of adverse changes in market variables or other risk factors which affect the value of financial instruments which the Bank holds.we hold. The financial instrument holdingsinstruments may include investment in securities and money market instruments, including equities, bonds, foreign exchange products and derivative instruments (linear as well as non-linear products).

The market variables which affect the valuation of these instruments typically include interest rates, equity prices, commodity prices, exchange rates and volatilities. Any change in the relevant market risk variable has an adverse or favorable impact on the valuation depending on the direction of the change and the type of position held (long or short). While the positions are taken with a view to earning from the upside potential, there is always a possibility of downside risk. Thus, the Bank haswe have to constantly review the positions to ensure that the risk on account of such positions is within the Bank’sour overall risk appetite. The Bank’sOur risk appetite is set through a pre-approved treasuryTreasury limit, counterparty exposureEquity limit, Counterparty Exposure limit and Asset Liability Management (“ALM”)(ALM) limit. The process for monitoring and review of risk exposure is outlined in the various risk procedure manual and policies.

The boardOur Board of directors reviews and approves the policies for the management of market risks by way of risk limits. The Risk Monitoring Committee of the board of directors approves market risk policies and procedures and reviews market risk limits of various operating levels. The board of directorsDirectors has delegated the responsibility for ongoing balance sheet market risk management to the Asset Liability Committee.asset liability committee. This committee, which is chaired by the Managing Director and includes the heads of the business groups, meets every alternateother week and more often when conditions require. The Asset Liability Committeecommittee reviews the product pricing for deposits and assets as well as the maturity profile and mix of our assets and liabilities. It articulates the interest rate view and decides on future business strategy with respect to interest rates. It reviews and sets funding policy and also reviews developments in the markets and the economy and their impact on the balance sheet and business. Finally, it ensures adherence to ALM market risk limits and decides on the inter-segment transfer pricing policy.

The Market Risk Department specifies themarket risk valuation methodology of various treasury products,department formulates procedures for portfolio risk valuation, assesses market risk factors and recommends various market risk controls and limits for variousthe treasury desks.portfolio. The treasury mid-office is responsible for monitoring and reporting market risks arising from the treasury desks.

The Financial Control Departmentfinancial control department is responsible for collecting data, preparing regulatory and analytical reports and monitoring whether the interest rate and other policies and limits established by the Asset Liability Committeeasset liability committee are being observed. Our Treasury Grouptreasury group also assists in implementing our asset liability strategy and in providing information to the Asset Liability Committee.asset liability committee.

Policies and Procedures

The following sections briefly describesdescribe our policies and procedures with respect to trading risk (price risk) and asset liability management risk (interest rate risk in the banking book and liquidity risk, price risk and other risks, such as foreign exchange and equities risks.risk).

Asset Liability Management

We fund core customer assets, consisting of loans and credit substitutes, with core customer liabilities, consisting principally of deposits. The Bank also transacts in the inter-bank market mainly for management of short-term liquidity mismatches.

We maintain a substantial portfolio of liquid, high-quality Indian government securities. The Bank on a regular basis prepares a Structural Liquidity Report in order to analyze the liquidity position of the Bank. The same is submitted to the RBI on a monthly basis.

The Bank has adopted the Gap Analysis Method to measure Interest Rate Risk. The gap or mismatch risk is measured by calculating gaps over different time intervals as on a given date. Gap Analysis measures mismatches between rate sensitive liabilities and rate sensitive assets. An asset or liability is classified as rate sensitive if:

The interest rate gap is the difference between Rate Sensitive Assets (RSA) and Rate Sensitive Liabilities (RSL) for each time bucket. If the Bank has a positive gap (RSA>RSL), then it will benefit from rising interest rates. If the Bank has a negative gap (RSA<RSL), then it will benefit from declining interest rates. Thus the gap is used as a measure of interest rate sensitivity.

The Bank has set a Cumulative Gap Limit which is obtained by adding individual time bucket-wise gaps in the Interest Rate Sensitive Assets and Interest Rate Sensitive Liabilities.

The ALCO is responsible for ensuring adherence to the limits set by the Board of Directors for liquidity and Interest Rate Risk. The treasury department is responsible for providing market related inputs i.e. interest rate, liquidity, and exchange rate scenarios to the ALCO. The treasury department is also responsible for implementing the asset and liability strategies as decided by the ALCO.

Our asset liability committee addresses the two principal aspects of our asset liability management program as follows:

First, the Asset Liability Committee monitors the liquidity gap and, at the corporate level, recommends appropriate financing or asset deployment strategies depending on whether the gap is a net asset position or a net liability position, respectively. Operationally, in the short-term, our Treasury Group implements these recommendations through transactions in the money market.

Second, the Asset Liability Committee monitors our interest rate gap and, at the corporate level, recommends repricing of our asset or liability portfolios. Operationally, in the short-term, our Treasury Group implements these recommendations by entering into transactions in the money market and interest rate swaps market.

In the longer term, our wholesale banking and retail banking groups implement these recommendations through changes in the interest rates offered by us for different time period categories to either attract or discourage deposits and loans in those time period categories. See “Selected Statistical Information” for information on our asset-liability gap and the sensitivity of our assets and liabilities to changes in interest rates.

LiquidityI. Trading Risk

The purpose of liquidity management is to ensure sufficient cash flow to meet all financial commitments and to capitalize on opportunities for business expansion. This includes our ability to meet deposit withdrawals either on demand or at contractual maturity, to repay borrowings as they mature and to make new loans and investments as opportunities arise.

Liquidity is managed on a daily basis by the Treasury Group under the direction of the Asset Liability Committee. The Treasury Group is responsible for ensuring that we have adequate liquidity, ensuring that our funding mix is appropriate so as to avoid maturity mismatches and price and reinvestment rate risk in case of a maturity gap, and monitoring local markets for the adequacy of funding liquidity.

Price Risk

PriceTrading risk is the risk arising from price fluctuations due to market factors, such as changes in interest rates, equity prices, commodity prices, exchange rates and exchange rates. the variations in their implied volatilities in respect of the trading portfolio held by the Bank. The trading portfolio includes holdings in the held-for-trading and available–for-sale-portfolios, as per the RBI guidelines and comprise of positions in bonds, securities, interest rate swaps, cross currency interest rate swaps and currency options.

The trading risk is managed by putting in place a sound process for price validation and by setting various limits, such as Value at Risk (“VaR”), Stop Loss Trigger Limit (“SLTL”), Price Value per basis point (“PV01”) and Position Limits, namely, Intraday and Net Overnight Open Position, which are set in the Treasury Limits Package and Equity Limits Package.

The Treasury Limits and Equity Limits are recommended by management for approval to the Board of Directors. The limits are reviewed annually or more frequently depending on market conditions or the introduction of new products.

Trading risk policy sets the framework for market risk monitoring. The risk on account of semi-liquid or illiquid positions in trading is mitigated through the Non-Standard Product policy. The Non-Standard Product Policy stipulates restrictions and requires case specific evaluation of risk exposure in respect of non-standard products (that is products which are not part of the standard product list decided by Treasury and our Market Risk Department).

Price validation is conducted by the Treasury Analytics team, is reviewed by the market risk department and governed by the model validation policy approved by the Board of Directors.

II. Asset Liability Management (ALM)

Our Treasury Group is responsible for implementingBoard of Directors has approved an ALM policy that covers all balance sheet and off-balance sheet items. The policy seeks to define liquidity and interest rate risk in the banking book, the measurement of these risks and their control. Other risks, namely currency risk, commodity price risk and equity price risk are governed by the market risk policy as approved by the Board.

We have interest rate risk and liquidity risk measurement, monitoring and control functions which are sufficiently independent from position-taking functions. Our ALM risk management process withinoperates in the limits approved byfollowing hierarchical manner:

IRRBB, or non-trading interest rate risk, arises from the boardprovision of directors. We measure priceretail and wholesale (non-trading) banking products and services, when the interest rate repricing date for assets is different from the repricing date for liabilities. This includes balance sheet items which do not have a defined maturity date and an interest rate that does not change when the base rate changes.

Interest rate risk through a three-stage process,in the first partbanking book is measured and controlled using both income metrics (Earnings at Risk) and present value metrics (Economic Value of which is to estimateEquity). Earnings at Risk (“EaR”), measures the sensitivity of net interest income over the next 12 months. It is calculated as the difference between the estimated income using the current yield curve and the lowest estimated income following an increase/decrease in interest rates. Economic Value of Equity (“EVE”) calculates the change in the present value of the banking book following an upward/downward interest rate shock. This calculation is equivalent to EaR except that EVE is a position to changes in market factors to which our businesspresent value sensitivity, while EaR is exposed.a measure of income sensitivity. We then estimate the volatility of market factors. Finally, we aggregate portfolio risk. We manage price risk principally by establishing limitsundertake periodic stress testing for our money market activities, foreign exchange activities,banking book based on stress scenarios. This provides a measure to assess our financial resilience from extreme but plausible interest rate and equities and derivatives activities. In addition, certain limits are also prescribed by the RBI.fluctuations.

We monitor and manage our exchange rate risk through a variety of limits on our foreign exchange activities. The RBI also limits the extent to which we can deviate from a “near square” position at the end of the day (where sales and purchases of each currency are matched). Our own policies set limits on maximum open positions in any currency during the course of the day as well as on overnight positions. We also have gap limits that address the matching of forward positions in various maturities and for different currencies. In addition, the RBI approves the aggregate gap limit for us. This limit is applied to all currencies. We also have stop-loss limits that require our traders to realize and restrict losses. We evaluate our risk on foreign exchangeliquidity positions on a daily basis using a value-at-risk model.the statement of structural liquidity prepared according to RBI’s prescribed format. We assess the level and outlook of liquidity risk using early warning indicators derived from our portfolio and market data. Additionally, we conduct stress tests to assess the impact on our liquidity position under plausible stress scenarios.

We impose position limitsconsider the full range of legal and regulatory restrictions on our trading portfoliothe availability of marketable securities. These limits, which vary by tenor, restrict the holding of marketable securities of all kinds depending on our expectations about the yield curve.liquidity support. We also impose trading limitstake into consideration the circumstances in which we may be obliged to transfer liquidity resources to other entities in our group. Our aim is to ensure that our funding sources are well diversified such that we are not prone to funding liquidity risks in the event of one or more of our funding resources being withdrawn. We maintain diversified and stable sources of funding, such as value-at-riskdeposits, money market borrowings and stop-loss limits.

Our derivatives risk is managed by the fact that we do not enter into or maintain unmatched positions with respect to non-rupee-based derivatives. Our proprietary derivatives’ trading is primarily limited to rupee-based interest rate swaps and rupee currency options. We impose trading limits, such as value-at-risk and stop-loss limits.

The day-to-day monitoring and reporting of market risk and counterparty risk limits is carried out independently by the treasury mid-office department. The treasury mid-office department is independent of the treasury department and has a reporting line to the head of credit and market risk.bond issuances.

Operational Risk

OperationalOur operational risk is defined as theframework has been reviewed by risk and control teams. Key aspects of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events. Operationaleffective operational risk management encompassesinclude identification, assessment, review, control and reporting of key operational risks.

We believe we have effectiveProcess and Measurement

Some of the key principles of our operational risk management because of our,strategy include segregation of functions, strong management team with vast experience in diverse fields,clear reporting guidelines, well defined processes, standard operating manuals and job cards, transaction verification and authorization, systems, distributed processing, staff training and an effective internal audit process.

As parta strong management team with experience in diverse fields. We are in the process of our overall Operational Risk Management, there is a clear line of reporting of every function which facilitates reporting, monitoringimplementing various principles and controlguidelines laid out in respect of operational risk events. Further,management by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in the Basel II guidelines and by RBI in its circulars and guidance note on operational risk and advance measurement approach guidelines. Our operational risk management committee oversees implementation of sound operational risk management framework. We have a robust process of reporting and measurement is also achieved through various Management Information Systems attached to each operational process which are generated and monitored regularly. Losseslosses and issues relating to operational risk, wherein the relevant areas are promptlyquickly reviewed and gaps, if any aregap suitably addressed. This is further being enhanced with a framework that has integrated capabilities to monitor losses, evaluate operational key risk indicators and qualitatively evaluate risk-control environments among other sound principles and practices.

We have anrobust information technology platform with disaster recovery capability for critical components apart from having an integrated Business Continuity Planning (BCP) initiative for business operations of the bank.Bank. A BCP committee oversees strategy and implementation of theour disaster and business continuity framework of the Bank. The Bank hasWe also have an Information Security Committee which oversees strategy and implementation of information security policies and procedures for the entire Bank.

Risk Reporting

As a part of the Bank’s overall operational risk management strategy, there is a clear line of reporting at every function which facilitates reporting and monitoring of operational risk events. Further, measurement and reporting is also achieved through various management information systems attached with each operational process which are generated and monitored regularly.

Mitigation

We have adoptedmanage our various operational risks by adopting, what we believe are, best practices in business processes through checks and balances, embedding monitoring and control mechanisms as a part of day-to-day operations and having an effective internal audit process. Various operational risk exposures are monitored regularly and reviewed periodically by us to ensure effective implementation. Control and mitigation guidelines are part of our various product, process operation manual and documents. We cover risk on account of natural disasters through appropriate insurance.

Operational Risk Capital

We are currently following the ‘Basic Indicator Approach’ for operational risk capital calculationsassessment as mandated by the RBI.

Competition

We face strong competition in all of our principal lines of business. Our primary competitors are large public sector banks, other private sector banks, foreign banks and, in some product areas, non-banking financial institutions. In February 2013, the RBI issued guidelines for the entry of new banks in the private sector, including eligibility criteria, capital requirements, shareholding structure, business plan and corporate governance practices. The RBI has received 26 applications for new bank licenses, including some of India’s largest business groups.

Retail Banking

In retail banking, our principal competitors are the large public sector banks, which have much larger deposit bases and branch networks than ours, other new generation private sector banks, old generation private sector banks, foreign banks and non-banking finance companies in the case of retail loan products. The retail deposit share of the foreign banks is quite small by comparison to the public sector banks. However, some of the foreign banks have a significant presence among non-resident Indians and also compete for non-branch-based products.

In mutual fund sales and other investment related products, our principal competitors are brokers, foreign banks and new private sector banks.

Wholesale Banking

Our principal competitors in wholesale banking are public and new private sector banks as well as foreign banks. The large public sector banks have traditionally been the market leaders in commercial lending. Foreign banks have focused primarily on serving the needs of multinational companies and Indian corporations with cross-border financing requirements including trade and transactional services and foreign exchange products and derivatives, while the large public sector banks have extensive branch networks and large local currency funding capabilities.

Treasury

In our treasury advisory services for corporate clients, we compete principally with foreign banks in foreign exchange and derivatives, as well as public sector banks and new private sector banks in the foreign exchange and money markets business.

Employees

The number of our employees remained roughly stable at 51,888has increased to 69,065 as of March 31, 20102013 as compared to 52,68766,076 as of March 31, 2009.2012. Most of our employees are located in India.

We consider our relations with our employees to be good. OnFurther to the acquisition of CBoP, a few employees of Centurion Bank of PunjabCBoP continue to be part of a labor union. These employees represent less than 1% of our total employee strength.

We use incentives in structuringOur compensation packages and have established a performance-based bonus scheme under which permanent employees have astructure has fixed as well as variable pay componentcomponents. Our variable pay is paid out by way of their salary.sales incentives as well as performance linked bonuses.

In addition to basic compensation, employees are eligible to participate in our provident fund and other employee benefit plans. The provident fund, to which both we and our employees contribute, is a savings scheme, required by government regulation, under which the fund is required to pay to employees a minimum annual return, which at present is 8.5%. If thesuch return is not generated internally by the fund, we are liable for the difference. Our provident fund has generated sufficient funds internally to meet the annual return requirement since inception of the fund. We have also set up a superannuation fund to which we contribute defined amounts. We also contribute specified amounts to a pension fund in respect of certain of our erstwhile CBoP employees. In addition, we contribute specified amounts to a gratuity fund set up pursuant to Indian statutory requirements.

We focus on training our employees on a continuous basis. We have a training center in Mumbai, where we conduct regular training programs for our employees. Management and executive trainees generally undergo up to eight-week training modules covering every aspectmost aspects of banking. We offer courses conducted by both internal and external faculty. In addition to ongoing on-the-job training, we provide employees courses in specific areas or specialized operations on an as-needed basis.

Properties

Our registered office and corporate headquarters is located at HDFC Bank House, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013, India. In addition to the corporate office, we have administrative offices in most of the metros and some other major cities in India.

As of March 31, 2010,2013, we had a network consisting of 1,7253,062 branches including 9 extension counters, and 4,23210,743 ATMs, including 1,9216,399 at non-branch locations. These facilities are located throughout India with the exception of one branchtwo branches which isare located in Bahrain.Bahrain and Hong Kong.

Legal Proceedings

We are involved in a number of legal proceedings in the ordinary course of our business. However, wethere are currently not a party to anyno legal proceedings, which if adversely determined, might have a material adverse effect onaffect our financial condition or the results of operations.our operations materially.

RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the following risk factors in evaluating us and our business.

Risks Relating to our Business

If we are unable to manage our rapid growth, in particular our growth as a result of the merger with CBoP, our operations may suffer and our performance may decline.

Our asset growth rate has been significantly higher than India’s gross domestic product (“GDP”) growth rate as well as the growth rate of the Indian banking industry over the last three fiscal years. For example, our total advances in the three-year period ended March 31, 20102012 grew at a compounded annual growth rate of about 34%26%, as against slightly over 18%19% for the Indian Banking Industry. Thisbanking industry for fiscal 2012. Our total advances in the three-year period ended March 31, 2013 grew at a compounded annual growth rate is partially attributable to our acquisition of CBoP in May 2008. See “Business—Overview”about 24%.

Our rapid growth has placed, and if it continues will place, significant demands on our operational, credit, financial and other internal risk controls such as:including:

The growth in our business is partly attributable to the expansion of our branch network. As at March 31, 2008, we had a branch network comprised of 761 branches, which increased to 3,062 as at March 31, 2013. We need to seek permission from the RBI before we can open a branch in locations with a population greater than 100,000. This permission, among other factors, is dependent on the number of branches that we have opened in under-banked or un-banked areas of the country as well as in centers with a population below 100,000. Additionally, the RBI considers our performance in the areas of priority sector lending, financial inclusion and customer service. If we are unable to perform in a manner satisfactory to the RBI in any of the above areas, it may have an impact on the number of branches we will be able to open and would in turn have an impact on our future growth.

If we fail to properly manage our rapid growth, our operations would suffer and our performance as a whole would be materially adversely affected.

Our business is particularly vulnerable to interest rate risk and volatility in interest rates whichcould adversely affectsaffect our net income.interest margin, the value of our fixed income portfolio, our treasury income and our financial performance.

Our results of operations depend to a great extent on our net interest revenue. During fiscal 2010,2013, net interest revenue after allowances for credit losses represented 59.4%68.9% of our net revenue. Changes in market interest rates affect the interest rates charged on our interest-earning assets differently from the interest rates paid on our interest-bearing liabilities and also affect the value of our investments. An increase in interest rates could result in an increase in interest expense relative to interest revenue if we are not able to increase the rates charged on our loans, which would lead to a reduction in our net interest revenue and net interest margin. Further, an increase in interest rates could negatively affect demand for our loans and credit substitutes.substitutes and we may not be able to achieve our volume growth, which could adversely affect our net income. A decrease in interest rates could result in a decrease in interest revenue relative to interest expense due to the repricing of our loans at a pace faster than the rates we pay on our interest-bearing liabilities. The quantum of the changes in interest rates for our assets and liabilities may also be different, especially since a portion of our deposits are at rates of interest regulated by the RBI.different.

Interest rates are currently rising and there isin India have declined during fiscal 2013 as a possibility that they will rise further due to many factors beyond our control, includingresult of the RBI’s monetary policies, receding fiscal slippage and sovereign risk and further liberalization of central banks such as the RBI, deregulation of the financial sector, domestic and international economic and political conditions and other factors. Yieldsbond markets. The yield on the Indian government’s ten-year bonds were 7.9%was 8.0%, 7.0%8.6% and 7.9%8.1% as of March 31, 2008, 20092011, 2012 and 2010,2013 respectively. IfWhile the first few months of fiscal 2014 continued to see a decline in interest rates, there was an increase and demand for loans is negatively affected,in interest rates in July 2013 as a result of the RBI’s monetary policy to restore stability to the Indian rupee in the foreign exchange market. As a result, we may not be able to achieve our volume growth, which would adversely affect our net income.change interest rates in the future. Any volatility in interest rates could also adversely affect our net income. See “Selected Statistical Information—Analysis of Changes in Interest Revenue and Interest Expense: Volume and Rate” and “Selected Statistical Information—Yields, Spreads and Margins”.

If the level of non-performing loans in our portfolio increases, we will be required to increase our provisions, which would negatively impact our income.

Our gross non-performing loans and impaired credit substitutes as per Indian GAAP represented 1.4%0.8% of our gross customer assets as of March 31, 2010.2013. Our non-performing loans and impaired credit substitutes net of specific loan loss provisions represented 0.3%0.2% of our net customer assets portfolio as of March 31, 2010. Additionally, the Bank has2013. We have restructured the payment terms of certain loans. As onof March 31, 20102013 these represented 0.3%0.1% of our gross customer assets. Our management of credit risk involves having appropriate credit policies, underwriting standards, approval processes, loan portfolio monitoring, remedial management and overall architecture for managing credit risk. In the case of our secured loan portfolio, the frequency of the valuation of collateral may vary based on the nature of the loan and the type of collateral. A decline in the value of collateral or an inappropriate collateral valuation increases the risk in the secured loan portfolio because of inadequate coverage of collateral. We had taken some collateral forAs of March 31, 2013, approximately 73.9%77% of our loan book as of March 31, 2010.was partially or fully secured by collateral. Our risk mitigation and risk monitoring techniques may not be accurate or appropriately implemented and we may not be able to anticipate future economic and financial events, leading to an increase in our non-performing loans. See“See note 10—Loans,Loans” in our consolidated financial statements.

The RBI has mandated that banks in India should augment their provisioning cushions consisting of specific provisions against NPAs as well as floating provisions, and ensure that their total provisioning coverage ratio (PCR), including floating provisions, is not less than 70 percent. Banks have been directed to comply with this requirement on or before September 30, 2010. As of March 31, 2010, we were compliant with this requirement.

Provisions are created by a charge to expense, and represent our estimate for loan losses and risks inherent in the credit portfolio. See “Selected Statistical Information—Non-Performing Loans”. The determination of an appropriate level of loan losses and provisions required inherently involves a degree of subjectivity and requires that we make estimates of current credit risks and future trends, all of which may undergo material changes. Our provisions may not be adequate to cover any further increase in the amount of non-performing loans or any further deterioration in our non-performing loan portfolio. In addition, we are a relatively young bank operating in a growing economy and we have yet not experienced a significant and prolonged downturn in the economy.

A number of factors outside of our control affect our ability to control and reduce non-performing loans. These factors include developments in the Indian economy, domestic or global turmoil, movements in commodity markets, global competition, changes in interest rates and exchange rates and changes in regulations, including with respect to regulations requiring us to lend to certain sectors identified by the RBI, or the governmentGovernment of India. These factors coupled with other factors such as volatility in commodity markets and declining business and consumer confidence and decreases in business and consumer spending could impact the operations of our customers and in turn impact their ability to fulfill their obligations under the loans granted to them by us. In addition, the expansion of our business may cause our non-performing loans to increase and the overall quality of our loan portfolio to deteriorate. If our non-performing loans increase, we will be required to increase our provisions, which would result in our net income being less than it otherwise would be and would adversely affect our financial condition.

We have high concentrations of exposures to certain customers and sectors and if any of these exposures were to become non-performing, the quality of our portfolio could be adversely affected and our ability to meet capital requirements could be jeopardized.

We calculate customer and industry exposure (i.e. the loss we will incur due to the downfall of a customer or an industry) in accordance with the policies established by RBI, computed based on our Indian GAAP and the RBI.financial statements. In the case of customer exposures, we aggregate the higher of the outstanding balances of, or limits on, funded and non-funded exposures. Funded exposures include loans and investments (excluding investments in government securities, units of mutual funds, deposit certificates issued by banks and equity shares). As of March 31, 2010,2013, our largest single customer exposure was Rs. 42.0107.1 billion, representing approximately 17%23.6% of our capital funds valuation, and our ten largest customer exposures totaled approximately Rs. 238.7455.2 billion, representing approximately 97%100.2% of our capital funds valuation, in each case as percomputed in accordance with RBI guidelines based on Indian GAAP figures.guidelines. None of theour ten largest customer exposures were classified as non-performing as on March 31, 2010.2013. However, if any of our ten largest customer exposures were to become non-performing, our net income would decline and, due to the magnitude of the exposures, our ability to meet capital requirements could be jeopardized. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for a detailed discussion on customer exposures.

We monitor concentration of exposures to individual industries as a proportion of funded exposures. As of March 31, 2010,2013, our largest industry concentrations, in each case based on Indian GAAP figures,RBI guidelines, were as follows: banks and financial institutions (7.0%)5.9%, automotive manufacturers (5.5%) ,wholesale trade 6.9% and wholesale and retail trade (5.3%)land transport 5.1%. In addition, as of that date approximately 42%March 31, 2013, 37.5% of the concentration of our exposureexposures was retail (except where otherwise included in the above classification). As of that date, our total non-performing loans and investments based on Indian GAAP figures were concentrated in the following industries: wholesale and retail trade (12.4%), textiles and garments (4.8%), land transport (4.7%), construction (3.1%), agriculture and allied activities (1.5%). Because approximately one-half of our loss exposure is retail, a downturn in the retail sector in India would likely have a proportionate impact on our earnings. Industry-specific difficulties in these or other sectors may increase our level of non-performing customer assets. If we experience a downturn in an industry in which we have concentrated exposure, our net income will likely decline significantly and our financial condition may be materially adversely affected. As of March 31, 2013, our total non-performing loans and credit substitutes in accordance with US GAAP were concentrated in the following industries: land transport (6.2)%, NBFC/financial intermediaries (5.3%), textiles and garments (4.3%), wholesale trade (3.8%) and information technology (2.9%).

We are required to undertake directed lending under RBI guidelines. Consequently, we may experience a higher level of non-performing assets in our directed lending portfolio, which could adversely impact the quality of our loan portfolio, our business and the price of our equity shares and ADSs. Further, in the case of any shortfall in complying with these requirements, we may be required to invest in deposits of Indian development banks as directed by the RBI. These deposits yield low returns, thereby impacting our profitability.

The RBI prescribes guidelines on priority sector lending in India. Under these guidelines banks in India are required to lend 40.0% of their adjusted net bank credit (“ANBC”) or the credit equivalent amount of off-balance sheet exposures (“CEOBE”), whichever is higher, as defined by the RBI and computed in accordance with Indian GAAP figures to certain eligible sectors categorized as priority sectors. The priority sector requirements must be met as of March 31 of the fiscal year with reference to the higher of the ANBC and the CEOBE of the previous fiscal year. Of the total priority sector advances, agricultural advances are required to be 18.0% of ANBC or CEOBE, whichever is higher, and of this, indirect lending in excess of 4.5% of ANBC or CEOBE, whichever is higher, is not taken into consideration for computing achievement of the 18.0% target. However, all agricultural loans under the categories ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ are taken into consideration for computing achievement of the overall priority sector target of 40.0%. Advances to sections termed “weaker” by the RBI are required to be 10.0% of ANBC or CEOBE, whichever is higher. The balance of the priority sector lending requirement can be met by lending directly or indirectly to a range of sectors, including small businesses and residential mortgages satisfying certain criteria.

In the case of non-achievement of priority sector lending targets, we are required to invest in deposits of Indian development banks, such as the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Small Industries Development Bank of India, as may be directed by the RBI. The amount to be deposited, interest rates on such deposits and periods of deposits, and other terms, are determined by the RBI from time to time. The interest rates on such deposits may be lower than the interest rates which the Bank would have obtained by investing these funds at its discretion. Additionally, as per RBI guidelines, non-achievement of priority sector targets and sub-targets will be taken into account by RBI when granting regulatory clearances/approvals for various purposes.

We may experience a higher level of non-performing assets in our directed lending portfolio, particularly in loans to the agricultural sector, small enterprises and weaker sections, where we are less able to control the portfolio quality and where economic difficulties are likely to affect our borrowers more severely. Our gross non-performing assets in the directed lending sector as a percentage to gross loans were 0.3% as of March 31, 2013 (as compared to 0.4% and 0.3% as of March 31, 2012 and March 31, 2011, respectively)

Future changes by the RBI in the directed lending norms may result in our inability to meet the priority sector lending requirements as well as require us to increase our lending to relatively more risky segments and may result in an increase in non-performing loans.

We may be unable to foreclose on collateral in a timely fashion or at all when borrowers default on their obligations to us, or the value of collateral may decrease, any of which may result in failure to recover the expected value of collateral security, increased losses and a decline in net income.

Although we typically lend on a cash-flow basis, themany of our loans are secured by collateral, which consists of liens on inventory, receivables and other current assets, and in some cases, charges on fixed assets, such as property, movable assets (such as vehicles) and financial assets (such as marketable securities). As onof March 31, 20102013, approximately 73.9%77% of our loans were partially or fully secured by some collateral.

Although there has been recent legislation which strengthens the rights of creditors and leads to quicker realization of collateral in the event of a default, we We may not be able to realize the full value of the collateral, due to, among other things, delays on our partstock market volatility, changes in taking immediate action,economic policies of the Indian government, obstacles and delays in bankruptcy foreclosurelegal proceedings, stock market downturns,borrowers and guarantors not being traceable, the Bank’s records of borrowers’ and guarantors addresses being ambiguous or outdated and defects in the perfection of collateral and fraudulent transfers by borrowers. In the event that a specialized regulatory agency gains jurisdiction over the borrower, creditor actions can be further delayed. In addition, the value of collateral may be less than we expect or may decline. For example, the global economic slowdown and other domestic factors had led to a downturn in real estate prices in India. If we are unable to foreclose on our collateral or realize adequate value, our losses will increase and our net income will decline. In addition, if a company becomes a “sick unit” (as defined under Indian law, which provides for a unit to be so categorized based on the extent of its accumulated losses relative to its stockholders’ equity), foreclosure and enforceability of collateral is stayed. The RBI has set forth guidelines on Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) via the corporate debt restructuring.restructuring cell. The guidelines envisage that for debt amounts of Rs. 10.1 billion and above, 60% of the creditors by number, in addition to 75% of creditors by value, can decide to restructure the debt and such a decision would be binding on the remaining creditors. In situations where we own 20% or less of the debt of a borrower, we could be forced to agree to an extended restructuring of debt, instead of foreclosure of security or a one-time settlement, which has generally been our practice. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments—Commercial Commitments”.

Our success depends in large part upon our management team and skilled personnel and our ability to attract and retain such persons.

We are highly dependent on our management team, including the continued efforts of our Chairman, our Managing Director, our Executive Directors and members of our senior management. Our future performance will be affected byis dependent on the continued service of these persons. We also face a continuing challenge to recruit and retain a sufficient number of skilled personnel, particularly if we continue to grow. Competition for management and other skilled personnel in our industry is intense, and we may not be able to attract and retain the personnel we need in the future. The loss of key personnel may restrict our ability to grow and consequently have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and financial position.

Our unsecured loan portfolio is not supported by any collateral that could help ensure repayment of the loan, and in the event of non-payment by a borrower of one of these loans, we may be unable to collect the unpaid balance.

We offer unsecured personal loans and credit cards to the retail customer segment, including salaried individuals and self-employed professionals. In addition, we offer unsecured loans to small businesses.businesses and individual businessmen. Unsecured personal loans are a greater credit risk for us than our secured loan portfolio because they may not be supported by realizable collateral that could help ensure an adequate source of repayment for the loan. Although we normally obtain direct debit instructions or post datedpostdated checks from our customers for our unsecured loan products, we may be unable to collect in part or at all in the event of non-payment by a borrower. Further, any expansion in our unsecured loan portfolio could require us to increase our provision for credit losses, which would decrease our earnings. Also see “Business—Retail Banking—Retail Loans and Other Asset Products”.

In order to support and grow our business, we must maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio, and a lack of access to the capital markets may prevent us from maintaining an adequate ratio.

The RBI requires a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 9% of our total risk-weighted assets. The BankWe adopted the Basel II framework as of March 31, 2009. Our capital adequacy ratio, calculated in accordance with Indian GAAP, was 17.4%16.8% as of March 31, 20102013 as per Basel II (as compared to 16.5% and 16.5%16.2% as per Basel I.of March 31, 2012 and March 31, 2011, respectively). Our ability to support and grow our business would be limited by a declining capital adequacy ratio. While we anticipate accessing the capital markets to offset declines in our capital adequacy ratio, we may be unable to access the markets at the appropriate time or the terms of any such financing may be unattractive due to various reasons attributable to changes in the general environment, including political, legal and economic conditions.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a comprehensive reform package entitled “Basel III: A global regulatory framework for more resilient banks and banking systems” in December 2010. In May 2012, the RBI released guidelines on implementation of Basel III capital regulations in India. The key items covered under these guidelines include: i) improving the quality, consistency and transparency of the capital base; ii) enhancing risk coverage; iii) graded enhancement of the total capital requirement; iv) introduction of capital conservation buffer and countercyclical buffer; and v) supplementing the risk-based capital requirement with a leverage ratio. One of the major changes proposed by the Basel III capital regulations is that the Tier 1 capital will predominantly consist of common equity of the banks which includes common shares, reserves and stock surplus. Innovative instruments and perpetual non-cumulative preference shares will not be considered a part of Common Equity Tier I capital. Basel III also defines criteria for instruments to be included in Tier 2 capital to improve their loss absorbency. The guidelines also set-out criteria for loss absorption through conversion/write-off of all non-common equity regulatory capital instruments at the point of non-viability. The point of non-viability is defined as a trigger event upon the occurrence of which non-common equity Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruments issued by banks in India may be required to be, at the option of the RBI, written off or converted into common equity. The capital requirement including the capital conservation buffer will be 11.5% (against the current requirement of 9%) once these guidelines are fully phased-in. The transitional arrangements began from April 1, 2013 and the guidelines will be fully phased-in and implemented as of March 31, 2018. Our ability to support and grow our business could be adversely affected if we are unable to meet with the revised requirements.

Material changes in Indian banking regulations may adversely affect our business and our future financial performance.

We operate in a highly regulated environment in which the RBI extensively supervises and regulates all banks. Our business could be directly affected by any changes in policies for banks in respect of directed lending, reserve requirements and other areas. For example, the RBI could change its methods of enforcing directed lending standards so as to require more lending to certain sectors, which could require us to change certain aspects of our business. In addition, we could be subject to other changes in laws and regulations, such as those affecting the extent to which we can engage in specific businesses or those that reduce our income through a cap on either fees or interest rates chargeable to our customers or those affecting foreign investment in the banking industry, as well as changes in other governmental policies and enforcement decisions, income tax laws, foreign investment laws and accounting principles. Laws and regulations governing the banking sector may change in the future and any changes may adversely affect our business, our future financial performance and the price of our equity shares and ADSs. See “—We could experience a decline in our revenue generated from activities on the equity markets if there is a prolonged or significant downturn on the Indian stock exchanges, or we may face difficulties in getting regulatory approvals necessary to conduct our business if we fail to meet regulatory limits on capital market exposures.”

We compete directly with banks that are much larger than we are and which benefit from economies of scale,Our business is highly competitive, which makes it challenging for us to offer competitive prices to retain existing customers and solicit new business.business, and our strategy depends on our ability to compete effectively.

We face strong competition in all areas of our business, and some of our competitors are much larger than we are. We compete directly with the large public sector banks, which generally have much larger customer, asset and deposit bases, larger branch networks and more capital than we do. These banks are becoming more competitive as they improve their customer services and technology. One of the other private sector banks in India is also larger than we are, based on such measurements. In addition, we compete directly with foreign banks, which include some of the largest multinational financial companies in the world. The economies of scale that our larger competitors benefit from, make it difficult for us to offer competitive pricing on products and services to retain existing customers and attract new customers so that we can execute our growth strategy successfully. In February 2013, the RBI issued guidelines for the entry of new banks in the private sector, including eligibility criteria, capital requirements, shareholding structure, business plan and corporate governance practices. The RBI has received 26 applications for new bank licenses including from some of the largest business groups in India. Further liberalization of the Indian financial sector could lead to a greater presence or new entries of Indian and foreign banks offering a wider range of products and services, which could adversely impact our competitive environment. Due to competitive pressures, we may be unable to successfully execute our growth strategy and offer products and services at reasonable returns and this may adversely impact our business. If we are unable to retain and attract new customers, our revenue and net income will decline, which could materially adversely affect our financial condition. See “Business—Competition”.

Our funding is primarily short- and medium- termshort-and medium-term and if depositors do not roll over deposited funds upon maturity our net income may decrease.

Most of our funding requirements are met through short-term and medium-term funding sources, primarily in the form of retail deposits. Short-term deposits are those with a maturity not exceeding one year. Medium-term deposits are those with a maturity of greater than one year but not exceeding three years. See “Selected Statistical Information—Funding”. However, a portion of our assets have long-term maturities, which sometimes causes funding mismatches. As of March 31, 2010,2013, about 42%40% of our loans were short-termare expected to mature within the next one year and about 45% of our loans are expected to mature between the next one to three years. As of March 31, 2013, about 30% of our deposits are expected to mature within the next one year and about 43% of our loans were medium-term. As of March 31, 2010, about 29% of our deposits were short-term and about 50% of our deposits were medium-term.are expected to mature between the next one to three years. In our experience, a substantial portion of our customer deposits has been rolled over upon maturity and has been, over time, a stable source of funding. However, if a substantial number of our depositors do not roll over deposited funds upon maturity, our liquidity position will be adversely affected and we may be required to seek more expensive sources of funding to finance our operations, which would result in a decline in our net income and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

Any increase in interest rates would have an adverse effect on the value of our fixed income securities portfolio and could have a material adverse effect on our net income.

Any increase in interest rates would have an adverse effect on the value of our fixed income securities portfolio and could have a material adverse effect on our net revenue. Policy rates were successively increased from February 2010 to March 2012 during which the bout of interest rate tightening in India was faster than many other economies. The RBI raised key policy rates from 5.25% (repo rate) in April 2010 to 8.5% in October 2011. However, key policy rates have been eased since April 2012 from 8.0% (repo rate) to 7.25% in May 2013. In July 2013, the RBI increased the rate for borrowings under its marginal standing facility (introduced by the RBI in fiscal 2012) from 100 basis points to 300 basis points above the repo rate. As a result of certain reserve requirements of the RBI, we are more structurally exposed to interest rate risk than banks in many other countries. See “Supervision and Regulation – Legal Reserve Requirements”. These requirements result in us maintaining (as per extant RBI guidelines we are required to invest 25%currently in force) at least 23% of our liabilities (computed as per guidelines issued by the RBI) in Government issued bonds. Our investments in Government issued securities constituted approximately 87%We are also required to maintain 4% of our total investments as of March 31, 2010liabilities (computed as per Indian GAAP. Any decreaseguidelines issued by RBI) by way of a balance with the RBI. We could be adversely impacted by a rise in interest rates, especially if the rise were sudden or sharp. A rise in yields on fixed income securities, including government securities, will impact our income from these investments couldprofitability. The above requirements would also have a material adverse effectnegative impact on our net interest income and financial condition.net interest margins since interest earned on our investments in government issued securities is generally lower than that earned on our other interest earning assets.

The development of a well entrenched nationwide inter-bank settlement system would adversely impact our cash float and decrease fees we receive in connection with check collection.

Currently, there is no well entrenched nationwide payment system in India, and checks must generally be returned to the city from which they were written in order to be cleared. Because of mail delivery delays and the variation in city-based inter-bank clearing practices, check collections can be slow and unpredictable. Through our electronically linked branch network, correspondent bank arrangements and centralized processing, we effectively provide a nationwide collection and disbursement system for our corporate clients. We enjoy cash float and earn fees from these services. In 2005, the RBI introduced the RTGS inter-bank settlement system which facilitates real time settlements primarily between banks. Although we believe our services offer advantages not offered by payment systems currently available, theThe development of a robust payments system would have an adverse impact on the cash float and fees we have enjoyed from our cash management services, which could materially adversely affect our financial condition.

We could experience a decline in our revenue generated from activities on the equity markets if there is a prolonged or significant downturn on the Indian stock exchanges, or we may face difficulties in getting regulatory approvals necessary to conduct our business if we fail to meet regulatory limits on capital market exposures.

The Bank providesWe provide a variety of services and products to participants involved with the Indian stock exchanges. These include working capital funding and margin guarantees to share brokers, personal loans secured by shares and initial public offering finance for retail customers, stock exchange clearing services, collecting bankers to various public offerings and depositary accounts. If there is a prolonged or significant downturn on the Indian stock exchanges, our revenue generated by offering these products and services may decrease, which would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

The Bank isWe are required to maintain itsour capital market exposures within the limits as prescribed by the RBI. The Bank’sOur capital market exposures are comprised primarily of investments in equity shares, loans to share brokers and financial guarantees issued to stock exchanges on behalf of share brokers.

As per RBI norms, a bank’s capital market exposure is limited to 40.0%40% of its net worth under Indian GAAP, both on a consolidated and non-consolidated basis. The Bank’sOur capital market exposure as of March 31, 20102013 was 31.4%26.4% of itsour net worth on a non-consolidated basis and 32.0%26.7% on a consolidated basis. See “Supervision and Regulation—Regulations Relating to Capital Market Exposure Limits.”Limits”. In the future if we fail to meet these regulatory limits, we may face difficulties in getting other regulatory approvals necessary to conduct business in the normal course, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.

Significant fraud, system failure or calamities would disrupt our revenue generating activities in the short-term and could harm our reputation and adversely impact our revenue-generating capabilities.

Our business is highly dependent on our ability to efficiently and reliably process a high volume of transactions across numerous locations and delivery channels. We place heavy reliance on our technology infrastructure for processing this data and therefore ensuring system security and availability is of paramount importance. Our systemic and operational controls may not be adequate to prevent adverse impact from frauds, errors, hacking and system failures. A significant system breakdown or system failure caused due to intentional or unintentional acts would have an adverse impact on our revenue-generating activities and lead to financial loss. Our reputation could be adversely affected by fraud committed by employees, customers or outsiders, or by our perceived inability to properly manage fraud-related risks. Our inability or perceived inability to manage these risks could lead to enhanced regulatory oversight and scrutiny. We have established a geographically remote disaster recovery site to support critical applications, and we believe that we will be able to restore data and resume processing. However it may take considerable time to make the system fully operational and achieve complete business resumption using the alternate site. Therefore, in such a scenario, where the primary site is completely unavailable, there may be significant disruption to the Bank’sour operations, which would materially adversely affect our reputation and financial condition.

Our business and financial results could be impacted materially by adverse results in legal proceedings.

We establish reserves for legal claims when payments associated with claims become probable and the costs can be reasonably estimated. We may still incur legal costs for a matter even if we have not established a reserve. In addition, the actual cost of resolving a legal claim may be substantially higher than any amounts reserved for that matter. The ultimate resolution of any pending or future legal proceeding, depending on the remedy sought and granted, could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We have recently been subject to a penalty imposed by the RBI. Any regulatory investigations, fines, sanctions, and requirements relating to conduct of business and financial crime could negatively affect our business and financial results, or cause serious reputational harm.

The RBI is empowered under the Banking Regulation Act, to impose penalties on banks and their employees to enforce applicable regulatory requirements. In June 2013, the RBI imposed a penalty of Rs. 45 million on the Bank for certain irregularities and violations discovered by the RBI, namely, non-observance of certain safeguards in respect of arrangement of “at par” payment of checks drawn by cooperative banks, exceptions in periodic review of risk profiling of account holders, non-adherence to KYC rules for walk-in customers (non-customers) including for sale of third party products, sale of gold coins for cash in excess of Rs. 50,000 in certain cases and non-submission of proper information required by the RBI. The penalty was imposed pursuant to a scrutiny by the RBI of our books of accounts, internal control, compliance systems and processes during March and April 2013. See “Supervision and Regulation—Penalties”. We cannot predict the initiation or outcome of any further investigations by other authorities or different investigations by the RBI. The penalty imposed by the RBI has generated adverse publicity for our business. Such adverse publicity, or any future scrutiny, investigation, inspection or audit which could result in fines, public reprimands, damage to reputation, significant time and attention from our management, costs for investigations and remediation of affected customers, may materially adversely affect our business and financial results.

Negative publicity could damage our reputation and adversely impact our business and financial results.

Reputation risk, or the risk to our business, earnings and capital from negative publicity, is inherent in our business. The reputation of the financial services industry in general has been closely monitored as a result of the financial crisis and other matters affecting the financial services industry. Negative public opinion about the financial services industry generally or us specifically could adversely affect our ability to keep and attract customers, and expose us to litigation and regulatory action. Negative publicity can result from our actual or alleged conduct in any number of activities, including lending practices, mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and related disclosure, sharing or inadequate protection of customer information, and actions taken by government regulators and community organizations in response to that conduct. Although we take steps to minimize reputation risk in dealing with customers and other constituencies, we, as a large financial services organization with a high industry profile, are inherently exposed to this risk.

Cyber threats, such as phishing and trojans, could intrude into our network for data theft or to seek sensitive information, which may cause damage to our reputation and adversely impact our business and financial results.

We offer internet banking services to our customers. Our internet banking channel includes multiple services such as electronic funds transfer, bill payment services, usage of credit cards on-line, requesting account statements, and requesting check books. We are therefore exposed to cyber threats, such as phishing and trojans, targeting our customers, wherein fraudsters send unsolicited mails to our customers seeking account sensitive information, hacking, wherein hackers seek to hack into our website with the primary intention of causing a reputational damage to us, and data theft, wherein cyber criminals may intrude into our network with the intention of stealing our data or information. The level of hacking attempts continues to increase. We, as a large financial services organization with a high industry profile, are inherently exposed to this risk.

HDFC Limited controls a significant percentage of our share capital and exercises substantial influence over board decisions, which could result in HDFC Limited making decisions or foregoing opportunities to benefit HDFC Limited that restrict our growth and harm our financial condition.

HDFC Limited and its subsidiaries owned 23.7%22.8% of our equity as of March 31, 2010.2013. So long as HDFC Limited and its subsidiaries hold at least a 20.0%20% equity stake in us, HDFC Limited is entitled to nominate two directors including our Chairman and Managing Director who are not required to retire by rotation to our board, subject to RBI approval. Our current Chairman and Managing Director were nominated by HDFC Limited and appointed with the approval of theour shareholders and the RBI. Two of our other directors, as on March 31, 2010 also have relationships with HDFC Limited—Mr. Keki Mistry is the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HDFC Limited and Mrs. Renu Karnad, is the Managing Director of HDFC Limited. Accordingly, HDFC Limited can exercise substantial influence over our board and over matters subject to a shareholder vote. Mr. D. M. Sukthankar is the father of our Executive Director, Mr. Paresh Sukthankar, and serves as an independent director on the Boardboard of HDFC Limited. Mr. D. M. Sukthankar has been on the Boardboard of HDFC Limited since 1989. Mr. Paresh Sukthankar was one of our early employees and also a part of the initial senior management team. He was appointed as our Executive Director in October 2007. Both are associated with the respective companies in their independent professional capacities and we believe that none is in a position to exercise influence over the other.

There have been reports in the Indian media suggesting that we may merge with HDFC Limited. We consider business combination opportunities as they arise. At present, we are not actively considering a business combination with HDFC Limited. Any significant business combination would involve compliance with regulatory requirements and shareholder and regulatory approvals. Were such a combination to occur, we cannot predict the impact it would have on our business, growth prospects or the prices of our equity shares and ADSs.

We may face conflicts of interest relating to our principal shareholder, HDFC Limited, which could cause us to forgo business opportunities and consequently have an adverse effect on our financial performance.

HDFC Limited is primarily engaged in financial services, including home loans, property-related lending and deposit products. The subsidiaries and associated companies of HDFC Limited are also largely engaged in a range of financial services, including asset management, life and other insurance and mutual funds. Although we have no agreements with HDFC Limited or any other HDFC group companies that restrict us from offering products and services that are offered by them, our relationship with these companies may cause us not to offer products and services that are already offered by other HDFC group companies and may effectively prevent us from taking advantage of business opportunities. See “Related Party Transactions” in the 20-Fsour Annual Report on Form 20-F for fiscal 2008, 20092011, 2012 and 20102013 for a summary of transactions we have engaged in and strategic investments made with HDFC Limited during fiscal 2008, 20092011, 2012 and 2010 respectively.2013. Also see Note 26 to28 – “Related party transactions”, in our consolidated financial statements. We currently offerdistribute products of HDFC Limited and its group companies. If we forgoforego opportunities because of our relationship with HDFC Limited, it could have a material adverse effect on our financial performance.

RBI guidelines relating to ownership in private banks could discourage or prevent a change of control or other business combination involving us, such as with HDFC Limited, which could restrict the growth of our business and operations.

RBI guidelines prescribe a policy framework for the ownership and governance of private sector banks. The guidelines state that no single entity or group of entities will be permitted to own or control, directly or indirectly, more than 10% of the paid-up capital of a private sector bank without RBI approval. The implementation of such a restriction could discourage or prevent a change in control, merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving us, which might be beneficial to our shareholders. The RBI’s acknowledgement is required for the acquisition or transfer of a bank’s shares, which will increase the aggregate holding (both direct(direct and indirect, beneficial or otherwise) of an individual or a group to the equivalent of 5% or more of its total paid-up capital. The RBI, while granting acknowledgement,when considering whether to grant an approval, may take into account all matters that it considers relevant to the application, including ensuring that shareholders whose aggregate holdings are above specified thresholds meet fitness and propriety tests. The RBI has accorded its approval for HDFC Limited to hold more than 10% of our stock not exceeding 23.27%.stock. HDFC Limited’s substantial stake in us could discourage or prevent another entity from exploring the possibility of a combination with us. These obstacles to potentially synergistic business combinations could negatively impact our share price and have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete effectively with other large banks and consequently our ability to maintain and improve our financial condition.

We may face increased competition as a result of revised guidelines that relax restrictions on the presence of foreign banks in India and a proposal by the RBI to grant fresh banking licenses for the establishment of new banks in the private sector which could cause us to lose existing business or be unable to compete effectively for new business.

The Government of India regulates foreign ownership in private sector banks. The total foreignForeign ownership up to 74% of the paid-up capital is permitted in aIndian private sector bankbanks, however, under the Banking Regulation Act, a shareholder cannot exceed 74%exercise voting rights in excess of its paid-up capital.10% of the total voting rights. The RBI, on February 28, 2005, released a “Roadmap for Presence of Foreign Banks in India and Guidelines on ownership and Governance in Private Sector Banks” (the “Roadmap”).

The Roadmap envisages two phases. During the first phase, between March 2005 and March 2009, foreign banks were permitted to establish their presence in India by way of setting up a wholly-owned banking subsidiary (“WOS”) or converting their existing branches into a WOS. The WOS must have minimum capital of Rs. 3 billion and ensure sound corporate governance.

Initially, equity participation by banks would be permitted only in the private sector banks that are identified by the RBI for restructuring. On an application made by a foreign bank for acquisition of 5% or more in any private bank, the RBI would consider the standing and reputation of the foreign bank and shall permit such acquisition only if it is satisfied that the investment by such foreign bank is in the long-term interest of all the stakeholders of the investee bank.

It was proposed that in the second phase, 2, beginning April 2009, the RBI would allow foreign banks to acquire up to 74% of equity capital in private sector banks in India.India, and would also enact appropriate amendments to the Banking Regulation Act to provide for voting rights commensurate with economic ownership. However, in light of the global financial turmoil and concerns regarding financial strength of banks around the world, the RBI decided to put on hold the second phase of the Roadmap and leave unchanged its policy on the presence of foreign banks in the country. While announcing its annual policy for fiscal 2010, the RBI said that it would continue with the current policy and procedures governing the presence of foreign banks in India. A review will happen once there is greater clarity regarding stability, recovery of the global financial system, and a shared understanding on the regulatory and supervisory architecture around the world. In January 2011, the RBI released a discussion paper on the presence of foreign banks in India, seeking comments and suggestions. Any growth in the presence of foreign banks or in foreign investments in Indian banks may increase the competition that we face and as a result have a material adverse effect on our business. See “Restrictions on Foreign Ownership of Indian Securities.”Securities”.

On August 11, 2010,In February 2013, the RBI released a discussion paper on the entryguidelines for licensing of new banks in the private sector. In this discussion paperThe key items covered under these guidelines include: i) promoters eligible to apply for banking licenses; ii) corporate structure; iii) minimum capital requirements for new banks; iv) foreign shareholding cap; v) corporate governance; and vi) business plan. The RBI has permitted private sector entities owned and controlled by Indian residents and entities in the public sector in India to apply to the RBI proposesfor a license to grant banking licensesoperate a bank through a wholly owned non-operative financial holding company route, subject to compliance with certain specified criteria. Such a non-operative financial holding company is permitted to be the holding company of the bank as well as any other financial services entity, with the objective that the holding company ring fences the regulated financial services entities in the group, including the bank from other activities of the group. The RBI specified July 1, 2013 as the deadline for submission of applications for setting up new entrantsbanks in the private sector.sector, subsequent to which the RBI shall review the applications and provide an in-principle approval. The validity of an in-principle approval issued by RBI will be 18 months from the date of its issue, after which it will lapse automatically. The new bank will therefore have to be set up within this 18-month period. The RBI has received 26 applications for new bank licenses, including from some of the largest business groups in India. If the number of banks in the country increase,increases, we will face increased competition in the businesses we operate in. This wouldcould have a material adverse effect on our business.business and financial results.

Delays in obtaining prior RBI approval for opening new branches to increase our infrastructure and expand our reach into different geographical segments will restrict our expansion plans and have a negative impact on our future financial performance by preventing us from realizing anticipated revenue from the new branches.

The RBI introducedissued a liberalizedmaster circular on July 1, 2009, incorporating the instructions and guidelines issued to banks on branch licensing policyauthorization. Pursuant to the master circular, the process by which the RBI authorized the opening of individual branches on a case-by-case basis was replaced by a system of aggregated approvals on an annual basis. While processing authorization requests, the RBI gives importance to the nature and scope of banking services, particularly in September 2005. under-banked areas, actual credit flow to priority sectors, pricing of products, overall efforts to promote financial inclusion, the need to induce enhanced competition in the banking sector, the bank’s regulatory compliance, quality of corporate governance, risk management and relationships with subsidiaries and affiliates.

We have applied for branches under the policy in the past and obtained approvals for opening branches under the policy. See “Supervision and Regulation—Regulation Relating to the Opening of Branches”. However, there can be no assurance that we willmay not receive licenses promptly or at all, and any prolonged delay in the receipt of such licenses will adversely affect our financial performance by preventing us from realizing anticipated revenue from the new branches.

If the goodwill recorded in connection with our recent acquisitions becomes impaired, we may be required to record impairment charges, which would decrease our net income and total assets.

In accordance with US GAAP, we have accounted for our acquisitions using the purchase method of accounting. We recorded the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the assets and liabilities of the acquired companies as goodwill. US GAAP requires us to test goodwill for impairment at least annually, or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that goodwill may be impaired. Goodwill is tested by initially estimating fair value of the reporting unit and then comparing it against the carrying amount including goodwill. If the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value, we are required to record an impairment loss. The amount of impairment and the remaining amount of goodwill, if any, is determined by comparing the fair value of the reporting unit as of the test date against the fair value of the assets and liabilities of that reporting unit as of the same date. See Note 2—2u-“Business Combination toCombination”, in our consolidated financial statements.

Many of the Bank’sour branches have been recently added to the Bank’sour branch network and are not operating with the same efficiency as compared to the rest of the Bank’sour existing branches, which adversely affects our profitability.

As at March 31, 2008,2010, we had 761 branches. As a result of our acquisition1,725 branches, which included more than 400 branches acquired pursuant to the merger of Centurion Bank of Punjab with HDFC Bank Limited effective May 23, 2008, our network expanded by over 400 branches while we2008. We have continued to grow organically by commissioning new branches. As at March 31, 2010,2013, we had 1,7253,062 branches, a more than doublingsignificant increase in the number of our branch network overbranches. Some of the last two fiscal years. The newly added branches are currently operating at a lower efficiency level as compared with our established branches. While we believe that the newly added branches will achieve the productivity benchmark set for our entire network over time, the success in achieving our benchmark level of efficiency and productivity will depend on various internal and external factors, some of which are not under our control. The sub-optimal performance of the newly added branches, if continued over an extended period of time, would have a material adverse effect on our profitability.

Deficiencies in accuracy and completeness of information about customers and counterparties may adversely impact us.

We rely on accuracy and completeness of information about customers and counterparties while carrying out transactions with them or on their behalf. We may also rely on representations as to the accuracy and completeness of such information. For example, we may rely on reports of independent auditors with respect to financial statements, and decide to extend credit based on the assumption that the customer’s audited financial statements conform to generally accepted accounting principles and present fairly, in all material respects, the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the customer. Our financial condition and results of operations could be negatively impacted by such reliance on information that is inaccurate or materially misleading. The nationwide credit bureau has only recently become operational in India. This may affect the quality of information available to us about the credit history of our borrowers, especially individuals and small businesses. As a consequence, our ability to effectively manage our credit risk may be adversely affected.

Risks Relating to Investments in Indian Companies

A slowdown in economic growth in India would cause us to experience slower growth in our asset portfolio and deterioration in the quality of our assets.

Our performance and the quality and growth of our assets are necessarily dependent on the health of the overall Indian economy. The global slowdown of the financial marketsmarket and economies had contributed and may continue to cause a slowdown in the Indian financial and economic environment, with attendant higher unemployment rates and decreases in purchasing power. While we havethe domestic economy started witnessing an overall improvement in the general financial and economic conditions, we have begun to witness a reversal which wouldon account of high inflation and turbulence in interest rates. These conditions, including global financial crisis and problems in the Eurozone countries, could result in a continuedprolonged slowdown in the Indian economy, which would adversely affect our business, including our ability to grow our asset portfolio, the quality of our assets and our ability to implement our strategy. In particular, because India depends significantly on imported oil for its energy needs, the Indian economy would beis adversely affected by volatile oil prices, and consequent inflation and would also be adversely affected by a general rise in interest rates, weather conditions adversely affecting agriculture or other factors. In addition, the Indian economy is in a state of transition. The share of the services sector of the economy is rising, while that of the industrial, manufacturing and agricultural sectors is declining. Finally, India faces major challenges in sustaining its growth, which include the need for substantial infrastructure development and improving access to healthcare and education. If the Indian economy deteriorates, our asset base may erode, which would result in a material decrease in our net income and total assets.

Any adverse change in India’s credit rating by an international rating agency could adversely affect our business and profitability.

In May 2013, Standard & Poor’s, an international rating agency, reiterated its negative outlook on India’s credit rating. It identified India’s high fiscal deficit and heavy government borrowing as the most significant constraints on its ratings, and recommended the implementation of reforms and containment of deficits. In June 2013, Fitch, another international rating agency, returned India’s sovereign outlook to “stable” from “negative” a year after its initial downgrade stating that the authorities had been successful in containing the upward pressure on the central government budget deficit in the face of a weaker-than-expected economy and that the authorities had also begun to address structural factors that have weakened the investment climate and growth prospects. Any adverse change in India’s credit ratings by international rating agencies may adversely impact our business and limit our access to capital markets.

The Bank’s long term unsecured, subordinated (tier II) bonds are rated “CARE AAA” by CARE and “AAA (ind)” (with the outlook on the rating as “stable”) by Fitch Ratings India Private Limited. The Bank’s tier I perpetual bonds and upper tier II bonds are rated “CARE AAA” by CARE and “AAA / Stable” by CRISIL Ltd. Any downgrade from the current credit rating of our borrowings may result in an increase in interest rates or require us to prepay such borrowings, thereby impacting our cost of borrowing and liquidity.

Any volatility in the exchange rate may lead to a decline in India’s foreign exchange reserves and may affect liquidity and interest rates in the Indian economy, which could adversely impact us.

Capital inflows into India have suffered as a result of the domestic economic slowdown, volatility in global capital markets and global risk aversion. Meanwhile, the country’s current account gap has widened reflecting a rapid increase in the import of oil and gold. The balance of payments has, as a result, come under pressure. This has led to a sharp depreciation of the Indian rupee compared to the U.S. dollar and could keep the domestic currency unit under selling pressure amidst an uncertain global financial environment. The high and low during fiscal 2013 was Rs. 57.13 per US$ and Rs. 50.64 per US$, respectively. The Indian rupee continues to remain under pressure given the possibility of the phasing out of the quantitative easing program by the U.S. Federal Reserve that may result in global fund flows moving to the U.S. markets and anxiety about the Indian political climate ahead of the general elections scheduled to be held in 2014. Any increased intervention by the RBI in the foreign exchange market to control the volatility of the exchange rate may result in a decline in India’s foreign exchange reserves and reduced liquidity and higher interest rates in the Indian economy. Further, increased volatility in capital flows may also affect monetary policy decisions, leading to volatility in inflation and interest rates in India, which could adversely impact our business and profitability.

Political instability or changes in the government in India could delay the liberalization of the Indian economy and adversely affect economic conditions in India generally, which would impact our financial results and prospects.

Since 1991, successive Indian governments have pursued policies of economic liberalization, including significantly relaxing restrictions on the private sector. Nevertheless, the roles of the Indian central and state governments in the Indian economy as producers, consumers and regulators have remained significant. The leadership of India has changed many times since 1996. The current coalition-led central government, which came to power in May 2009, has announced policies and taken initiatives that support the economic liberalization policies that have been pursued by previous central governments. However, we cannot assure you that these liberalization policies willmay not continue in the future. The rate of economic liberalization is subject to change and specific laws and policies affecting banking and finance companies, foreign investment, currency exchange and other matters affecting investment in our securities are continuously evolving as well. Any significant change in India’s economic liberalization and deregulation policies would adversely affect business and economic conditions in India generally and our business in particular.

Terrorist attacks, civil unrest and other acts of violence or war involving India and other countries would negatively affect the Indian market where our shares trade and lead to a loss of confidence and impair travel, which could reduce our customers’ appetite for our products and services.

Terrorist attacks, such as those in Mumbai in November 2008, and other acts of violence or war may negatively affect the Indian markets on which our equity shares trade and also adversely affect the worldwide financial markets. These acts may also result in a loss of business confidence, make travel and other services more difficult and as a result ultimately adversely affect our business. In addition, any deterioration in relations between India and Pakistan might result in investor concern about stability in the region, which could adversely affect the price of our equity shares and ADSs.

India has also witnessed civil disturbances in recent years and future civil unrest as well as other adverse social, economic and political events in India could have an adverse impact on us. Such incidents also create a greater perception that investment in Indian companies involves a higher degree of risk, which could have an adverse impact on our business and the price of our equity shares and ADSs.

Risks Relating to the ADSs and Equity Shares

Historically, our ADSs have traded at a premium to the trading prices of our underlying equity shares, a situation which may not continue.

Historically, our ADSs have traded on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) at a premium to the trading prices of our underlying equity shares on the Indian stock exchanges, although this premium has declined in recent years.exchanges. See “Price Range of Our American Depositary Shares and Equity Shares” for the underlying data. We believe that this price premium has resulted from the relatively small portion of our market capitalization previously represented by ADSs, restrictions imposed by Indian law on the conversion of equity shares into ADSs, and an apparent preference for investors to trade dollar-denominated securities. Over time, some of the restrictions on issuance of ADSs imposed by Indian law have been relaxed and we expect that other restrictions may be relaxed in the future. It is possible that in the future our ADSs will not trade at any premium to our equity shares and could even trade at a discount to our equity shares.

Investors in ADSs will not be able to vote.

Investors in ADSs will have no voting rights, unlike holders of the equity shares. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will abstain from voting the equity shares represented by the ADSs. If you wish, you may withdraw the equity shares underlying the ADSs and seek to vote (subject to Indian restrictions on foreign ownership) the equity shares you obtain upon withdrawal. However, this withdrawal process may be subject to delays, additional costs and you may not be able to redeposit the equity shares. For a discussion of the legal restrictions triggered by a withdrawal of the equity shares from the depositary facility upon surrender of ADSs, see “Restrictions on Foreign Ownership of Indian Securities” and “Description of American Depository Shares—Voting Rights”.

Your ability to withdraw equity shares from the depositary facility is uncertain and may be subject to delays.

India’s restrictions on foreign ownership of Indian companies limit the number of equity shares that may be owned by foreign investors and generally require government approval for foreign investments. Investors who withdraw equity shares from the ADS depositary facility for the purpose of selling such equity shares will be subject to Indian regulatory restrictions on foreign ownership upon withdrawal. The withdrawal process may be subject to delays. For a discussion of the legal restrictions triggered by a withdrawal of equity shares from the depositary facility upon surrender of ADSs, see “Restrictions on Foreign Ownership of Indian Securities”.

There is a limited market for the ADSs.

Although our ADSs are listed and traded on the NYSE, any trading market for our ADSs may not be sustained, and there is no assurance that the present price of our ADSs will correspond to the future price at which our ADSs will trade in the public market. Indian legal restrictions may also limit the supply of ADSs. The only way to add to the supply of ADSs would be through an additional issuance. We cannot guarantee that a market for the ADSs will continue.

Conditions in the Indian securities market may affect the price or liquidity of our equity shares and ADSs.

The Indian securities markets are smaller and more volatile than securities markets in more developed economies. The Indian stock exchanges have in the past experienced substantial fluctuations in the prices of listed securities. Currently prices of securities listed on Indian exchanges are displaying signs of volatility linked among other factors to the uncertainty in the global markets and the rising inflationary and interest rate pressures domestically. The governing bodies of the Indian stock exchanges have from time to time imposed restrictions on trading in certain securities, limitations on price movements and margin requirements. Future fluctuations could have a material adverse effect on the price of our equity shares and ADSs.

Settlement of trades of equity shares on Indian stock exchanges may be subject to delays.

The equity shares represented by our ADSs are listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and Bombay Stock Exchange Limited. Settlement on these stock exchanges may be subject to delays and an investor in equity shares withdrawn from the depositary facility upon surrender of ADSs may not be able to settle trades on these stock exchanges in a timely manner.

You may be subject to Indian taxes arising out of capital gains

Generally, capital gains, whether short-term or long-term, arising on the sale of the underlying equity shares in India is subject to Indian capital gains tax. Investors are advised to consult their own tax advisers and to carefully consider the potential tax consequences of an investment in ADSs. See also “Taxation”.

You may be unable to exercise preemptive rights available to other shareholders.

A company incorporated in India must offer its holders of equity shares preemptive rights to subscribe and pay for a proportionate number of shares to maintain their existing ownership percentages prior to the issuance of any new equity shares, unless these rights have been waived by at least 75%75.0% of the Bank’scompany’s shareholders present and voting at a shareholders’ general meeting. U.S. investors in our ADSs may be unable to exercise preemptive rights for our equity shares underlying our ADSs unless a registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) is effective with respect to those rights or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act is available. Our decision to file a registration statement will depend on the costs and potential liabilities associated with any registration statement as well as the perceived benefits of enabling U.S. investors in our ADSs to exercise their preemptive rights and any other factors we consider appropriate at the time. We do not commit to filing a registration statement under those circumstances. If we issue any securities in the future, these securities may be issued to the depositary, which may sell these securities in the securities markets in India for the benefit of the investors in our ADSs. There can be no assurance as to the value, if any, the depositary would receive upon the sale of these securities. To the extent that investors in our ADSs are unable to exercise preemptive rights, their proportional interests in us would be reduced.

Because the equity shares underlying our ADSs are quoted in rupees in India, you may be subject to potential losses arising out of exchange rate risk on the Indian rupee and risks associated with the conversion of rupee proceeds into foreign currency.

Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Indian rupee may affect the value of your investment in our ADSs. Specifically, if the relative value of the Indian rupee to the U.S. dollar declines, each of the following values will also decline:

You may not be able to enforce a judgment of a foreign court against us.

We are a limited liability company incorporated under the laws of India. All of our directors and members of our senior management and some of the experts named in this report are residents of India and almost all of our assets and the assets of these persons are located in India. It may not be possible for investors in our ADSs to effect service of process outside India upon us or our directors and members of our senior management and experts named in the report that are residents of India or to enforce judgments obtained against us or these persons in foreign courts predicated upon the liability provisions of foreign countries, including the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States. Moreover, it is unlikely that a court in India would award damages on the same basis as a foreign court if an action were brought in India or that an Indian court would enforce foreign judgments if it viewed the amount of damages as excessive or inconsistent with Indian practice.

There may be less company information available on Indian securities markets than securities markets in developed countries.

There is a difference between the level of regulation and monitoring of the Indian securities markets and the activities of investors, brokers and other participants and that of markets in the United States and other developed economies. SEBI and the stock exchanges are responsible for improving disclosure and other regulatory standards for the Indian securities markets. SEBI has issued regulations and guidelines on disclosure requirements, insider trading and other matters. There may, however, be less publicly available information about Indian companies than is regularly made available by public companies in developed economies.

PRICE RANGE OF OUR AMERICAN DEPOSITARY SHARES AND EQUITY SHARES

Our ADSs, each representing three equity shares, par value Rs. 102.0 per share, are listed on the NYSE under the symbol “HDB.”“HDB”. Our equity shares, including those underlying the ADSs, are listed on the National Stock Exchange under the symbol “HDFCBANK” and the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited under the code 500180. Our fiscal quarters end on June 30 of each year for the first quarter, September 30 for the second quarter, December 31 for the third quarter and March 31 for the fourth quarter.

Trading Prices of Our ADSs on the NYSE

The following table shows:

Our shareholders at the Annual General Meeting held on July 6, 2011 approved the subdivision of our one equity share having a nominal value of Rs. 10.0 each into 5 (five) equity shares having a nominal value of Rs. 2.0 each. Necessary instructions were issued to JP Morgan Chase Bank, the Depository, for the American Depository Shares (ADSs) to effect the split in the ADSs so as to ensure that the ratio between the ADSs and the underlying equity shares remains 1:3 as on the date prior to the subdivision.

The closing price for our ADSs on the NYSE was US$ 184.137.8 per ADS on September 24, 2010.July 19, 2013.

Trading Prices of Our Equity Shares on the National Stock Exchange

The following table shows:

Our shareholders, by a special resolution on July 6, 2011, approved a stock split resulting in a reduction in the par value of each equity share from Rs.10.0 to Rs. 2.0 effective as of July 16, 2011.

The closing price for our equity shares on the National Stock Exchange was Rs. 2,495.3 (US$ 55.5)680.0 per share on September 24, 2010.July 19, 2013.

As of March 31, 2010,2013, there were 441,347440,853 holders of record of our equity shares, including the shares underlying ADSs and GDRs, of which 103190 had registered addresses in the United States and held an aggregate of 122,635 of our633,881 equity shares representing 0.03%0.04% of our shareholders. In our books only, the Depository,depositories, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, are the shareholders with respect to equity shares underlying ADSs and GDRs. We are unable

Upon our acquisition of CBoP in 2008, CBoP had global depository receipts (GDRs) outstanding, representing the right to estimatereceive shares in CBoP, which, upon the numberconsummation of record holdersthe acquisition, converted into our GDRs, representing the right to receive our shares. As of ADSs andMarch 31, 2013, there were 22,891,290 GDRs inoutstanding, representing 11,445,645 shares of the United States and elsewhere.Bank (in the aggregate 0.5% of our paid-up capital).

DESCRIPTION OF EQUITY SHARES

The Company

We are registered under Corporate Identity Number (CIN) L65920MH1994PLC080618 with the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra State, India. Our Articles permitMemorandum of Association permits us to engage in a wide variety of activities, including all of the activities in which we currently engage or intend to engage, as well as other activities in which we currently have no intention of engaging.

Dividends

Under Indian law, a company pays dividends upon a recommendation by its board of directors and approval by a majority of its shareholders at the annual general meeting of shareholders held within six months of the end of each fiscal year. The shareholders have the right to decrease but not increase the dividend amount recommended by the board of directors. Dividends are generally declared as a percentage of par value (on per share basis) and distributed and paid to shareholders in proportion to the paid up value of their equity shares.shareholders. The Companies Act provides that shares of a company of the same class must receive equal dividend treatment.

These distributions and payments are required to be deposited into a separate bank account and paid to shareholders within 30 days of the annual general meeting where the resolution for declaration of dividends is approved.

The Companies Act states that any dividends that remain unpaid or unclaimed after that period are to be transferred to a special bank account. Any money that remains unclaimed for seven years from the date of the transfer is to be transferred by us to a fund created by the Government of India. No claims for the payment of dividends unpaid or unclaimed for a period of seven years shall lie against the fund of the Government of India or against us.

Our Articles authorize our board of directors to declare interim dividends, the amount of which must be deposited in a separate bank account within five days and paid to the shareholders within 30 days of the declaration.

Under the Companies Act, final dividends payable can be paid only in cash to the registered shareholder at a record date fixed prior to the relevant annual general meeting, to his order or to the order of his banker.

Before paying any dividend on our shares, we are required under the Indian Banking Regulation Act to write off all capitalized expenses (including preliminary expenses, organization expenses, share-selling commission, brokerage, amounts of losses incurred or any other item of expenditure not represented by tangible assets). We are permitted to declare dividends of up to 33.33%35.0% of net profit calculated under Indian GAAP without prior RBI approval subject to compliance with certain prescribed requirements. Further, upon compliance with the prescribed requirements, we are also permitted to declare interim dividends subject to the above mentionedabove-mentioned cap computed for the relevant accounting period.

Dividends may only be paid out of our profits for the relevant year and in certain contingencies out of the reserves of the company. Before declaring dividends, we are required, under the Indian Banking Regulation Act, to transfer 25% of the balance of profits of each year to a reserve fund.

Bonus Shares

In addition to permitting dividends to be paid out of current or retained earnings calculated under Indian GAAP, the Companies Act permits our board of directors, subject to the approval of our shareholders, to distribute to the shareholders, in the form of fully paid-up bonus equity shares, an amount transferred from the capital surplus reserve or legal reserve to stated capital. Bonus equity shares can be distributed only with the prior approval of the RBI. These bonus equity shares must be distributed to shareholders in proportion to the number of equity shares owned by them.

Preemptive Rights and Issue of Additional Shares

The Companies Act gives shareholders the right to subscribe for new shares in proportion to their existing shareholdings unless otherwise determined by a resolution passed by three-fourths of the shareholders present and voting at a general meeting. Under the Companies Act and our Articles, in the event of an issuance of securities, subject to the limitations set forth above, we must first offer the new shares to the holders of equity shares on a fixed record date. The offer, required to be made by notice, must include:

Our board of directors is permitted to distribute equity shares not accepted by existing shareholders in the manner it deems beneficial for us in accordance with our Articles. Holders of ADSs may not be able to participate in any such offer. See “Description of American Depositary Shares—Share Dividends and Other Distributions.”Distributions”.

General Meetings of Shareholders

There are two types of general meetings of shareholders: annual general meetings and extraordinary general meetings. We are required to convene our annual general meeting within six months after the end of each fiscal year. We may convene an extraordinary general meeting when necessary or at the request of a shareholder or shareholders holding on the date of the request at least 10% of our paid up capital. A general meeting is generally convened by our company secretary in accordance with a resolution of the board of directors. Written notice stating the agenda of the meeting must be given at least 21 days prior to the date set for the general meeting to the shareholders whose names are in the register at the record date. Those shareholders who are not registered at the record date do not receive notice of this meeting and are not entitled to attend or vote at this meeting.

The annual general meeting is held in Mumbai, the city in which our registered office is located. General meetings other than the annual general meeting may be held at any location if so determined by a resolution of our board of directors.

Voting Rights

A shareholder has one vote for each equity share and voting may be by a show of hands or on a poll. However, under the Indian Banking Regulation Act, on poll, a shareholder cannot exercise voting rights in excess of 10% of the total voting rights of all shareholders. The Banking Regulation Act, 1949 has been amended with effect from January 18, 2013 to provide that the RBI would have the power to increase, the limit on voting rights from 10% to 26% in a phased manner. Unless a poll is demanded by a shareholder, resolutions are adopted at a general meeting by a majority of the shareholders having voting rights present or represented. The quorum for a general meeting is five members personally present. Generally, resolutions may be passed by simple majority of the shareholders present and voting at any general meeting. However, resolutions such as an amendment to the organizational documents, commencement of a new line of business, an issue of additional equity shares without preemptive rights and reductions of share capital, require that the votes cast in favor of the resolution (whether by show of hands or on a poll) are not less than three times the number of votes, if any, cast against the resolution. As provided in our Articles, a shareholder may exercise his voting rights by proxy to be given in the form prescribed by us. This proxy, however, is required to be lodged with us at least 48 hours before the time of the relevant meeting. A shareholder may, by a single power of attorney, grant general power of representation covering several general meetings. A corporate shareholder is also entitled to nominate a representative to attend and vote on its behalf at all general meetings.

The Companies Act has recently been amended to provideprovides for the passing of resolutions in relation to certain matters specified by the governmentGovernment of India, by means of a postal ballot.

ADS holders have no voting rights with respect to the deposited shares. See “Description of American Depositary Shares—Voting Rights.”Rights”.

Annual Report

At least 21 days before an annual general meeting, we must circulate either a detailed or abridged version of our Indian GAAP audited financial accounts, together with the Directors’ Report and the Auditor’s Report, to the shareholders along with a notice convening the annual general meeting. We are also required under the Companies Act to make available upon the request of any shareholder our complete balance sheet and profit and loss account.

Under the Companies Act, we must file with the Registrar of Companies our Indian GAAP balance sheet and profit and loss account within 30 days of the conclusion of the annual general meeting and our annual return within 60 days of the conclusion of that meeting.

Register of Shareholders, Record Dates and Transfer of Shares

The equity shares are in registered form. We maintain a register of our shareholders in Mumbai. We register transfers of equity shares on the register of shareholders upon presentation of certificates in respect of the transfer of equity shares held in physical form together with a transfer deed duly executed by the transferor and transferee. These transfer deeds are subject to stamp duty, which has been fixed at 0.25% of the transfer price.

For the purpose of determining equity shares entitled to annual dividends, the register of shareholders is closed for a period prior to the annual general meeting. The Companies Act and our listing agreements with the stock exchanges permit us, pursuant to a resolution of our board of directors and upon at least 7 days’ advance notice to the stock exchanges, to set the record date and close the register of shareholders after seven days’ public notice for not more than 30 days at a time, and for not more than 45 days in a year, in order for us to determine which shareholders are entitled to certain rights pertaining to the equity shares. Trading of equity shares and delivery of certificates in respect of the equity shares may, however, continue after the register of shareholders is closed.

Transfer of Shares

Shares held through depositories are transferred in the form of book entries or in electronic form in accordance with the regulations laid down by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”). These regulations provide the regime for the functioning of the depositories and the participants and set out the manner in which the records are to be kept and maintained and the safeguards to be followed in this system. Transfers of beneficial ownership of shares held through a depositary are exempt from stamp duty.

SEBI requires that our equity shares for trading and settlement purposes be in book-entry form for all investors, except for transactions that are not made on a stock exchange and transactions that are not required to be reported to the stock exchange. Transfers of equity shares in book-entry form require both the seller and the purchaser of the equity shares to establish accounts with depositary participants appointed by depositories established under the Depositaries Act, 1996. Charges for opening an account with a depositary participant, transaction charges for each trade and custodian charges for securities held in each account vary depending upon the practice of each depositary participant. Upon delivery, the equity shares shall be registered in the name of the relevant depositary on our books and this depositary shall enter the name of the investor in its records as the beneficial owner. The transfer of beneficial ownership shall be effected through the records of the depositary. The beneficial owner shall be entitled to all rights and benefits and subject to all liabilities in respect of his securities held by a depositary.

The requirement to hold the equity shares in book-entry form will apply to the ADS holders when the equity shares are withdrawn from the depositary facility upon surrender of the ADSs. In order to trade the equity shares in the Indian market, the withdrawing ADS holder will be required to comply with the procedures described above.

Our equity shares are freely transferable, subject only to the provisions of the Companies Act under which, if a transfer of equity shares contravenes the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 or the regulations issued under it or the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985, or any other similar law, the Indian Company Law Board may, on application made by us, a depositary incorporated in India, an investor, SEBI or certain other parties, direct a rectification of the register of records. It is a condition of our listing that we transfer equity shares and deliver share certificates duly endorsed for the transfer within one month15 days of the date of lodgment of transfer. If a company without sufficient cause refuses to register a transfer of equity shares within two months from the date on which the instrument of transfer is delivered to the company, the transferee may appeal to the Indian Company Law Board seeking to register the transfer of equity shares. The Indian Company Law Board may, in its discretion, issue an interim order suspending the voting rights attached to the relevant equity shares before completing its investigation of the alleged contravention. Our Articles provide for certain restrictions on the transfer of equity shares, including granting power to the board of directors in certain circumstances, to refuse to register or acknowledge transfer of equity shares or other securities issued by us. Furthermore, the RBI requires us to obtain its approval before registering a transfer of equity shares in favor of a person which together with equity shares already held by him represent more than 5.0% of our share capital.

Our transfer agent, Datamatics Financial Services Limited, is located in Mumbai. Certain foreign exchange control and security regulations apply to the transfer of equity shares by a non-resident or a foreigner. See “Restrictions on Foreign Ownership of Indian Securities.”Securities”.

Disclosure of Ownership Interest

The provisions of the Companies Act generally require beneficial owners of equity shares of Indian companies that are not holders of record to declare to the company details of the holder of record and holders of record to declare details of the beneficial owner. While it is unclear whether these provisions apply to holders of an Indian company’s ADSs, investors who exchange ADSs for equity shares are subject to this provision. Failure to comply with these provisions would not affect the obligation of a company to register a transfer of equity shares or to pay any dividends to the registered holder of any equity shares in respect of which this declaration has not been made, but any person who fails to make the required declaration may be liable for a fine of up to Rs. 1,000 for each day this failure continues. However, under the Indian Banking Regulation Act, a registered holder of any equity shares, except in certain conditions, shall not be liable to any suit or proceeding on the ground that the title to those equity shares vests in another person.

Acquisition by the Issuer of Its Own Shares

Until recently, theThe Companies Act did not permitpermits a company to acquire its own equity shares because of the resulting reduction in the company’s capital. However, the government of India amended the Companies Act and consequently this reduction inreduce its capital is permitted inunder certain circumstances. TheSuch reduction of capital requires compliance with buy-back provisions specified in the Companies Act and by SEBI.

ADS holders will be eligible to participate in a buy-back in certain cases. An ADS holder may acquire equity shares by withdrawing them from the depositary facility and then sell those equity shares back to us. ADS holders should note that equity shares withdrawn from the depositary facility may only be redeposited into the depositary facility under certain circumstances. See “Description of American Depositary Shares—Deposit, Withdrawal and Cancellation.”

There can be no assurance that the equity shares offered by an ADS investor in any buy-back of shares by us will be accepted by us. The position regarding regulatory approvals required for ADS holders to participate in a buy-back is not clear. ADS investors are advised to consult their Indian legal advisers prior to participating in any buy-back by us, including in relation to any regulatory approvals and tax issues relating to the buy-back.

Liquidation Rights

Subject to the rights of depositors, creditors and employees, in the event of our winding up, the holders of the equity shares are entitled to be repaid the amounts of capital paid up or credited as paid up on these equity shares. All surplus assets remaining belong to the holders of the equity shares in proportion to the amount paid up or credited as paid up on these equity shares, respectively, at the commencement of the winding up.

Acquisition of the Undertaking by the Government

Under the Indian Banking Regulation Act, the government may, after consultation with the RBI, in the interest of our depositors or banking policy or better provision of credit generally or to a particular community or area, acquire our banking business. The RBI may acquire our business if it is satisfied that we have failed to comply with the directions given to us by the RBI or that our business is being managed in a manner detrimental to the interest of our depositors. Similarly, the Government of India may also acquire our business based on a report by the RBI.

Takeover Code and Listing Agreements

Under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisitions of Shares & Takeovers) Regulations, 19972011, as amended (the “Takeover Code”), upon the acquisition of shares which taken together with the shares/voting rights already held aggregates 5% or more than 5% of the outstanding shares or voting rights of a publicly listed Indian company, a purchaser is required to notify the company and the company and the purchaser are required to notify all the stock exchanges on which the shares of such company are listed. Such notification is also required upon acquisition of 10% and 14%when a person holds 5% or more of the outstanding shares or voting rights in a target company and there is a change in his holding either due to purchase or disposal of a publicly listed Indianshares of 2% or more of the outstanding shares/voting rights in the target company. An ADS holder would be subject to these notification requirements.

Upon theNo acquisition of 15%shares/voting rights by an acquirer in a target company which entitles the acquirer to 25% or more of such shares or voting rights oris permissible unless the acquirer makes a change in controlpublic announcement of the company, the purchaser is required to make an open offer tofor acquiring the other shareholders, offering to purchase at least 20% of all the outstanding shares of the target company at a minimum offer price as determined pursuant toin the manner provided in the Takeover Code. Since we are a listed company in India, the provisionsThe public announcement of an open offer is also mandatory where an acquirer who holds 25% of the Takeover Code will applyshares/voting rights in the target company seeks to us.acquire an additional 5% or more of the shares/voting rights in the target company during any fiscal year. However, the Takeover Code provides forapplies only to shares or securities convertible into shares which carry a specific exemption from this provision to an ADS holder and states that thisvoting right. This provision will apply to an ADS holder only once he or she converts the ADSs into the underlying equity shares.

We have entered into listing agreements with each of the Indian stock exchanges on which our equity shares are listed. Each of the listing agreements provides that ifthe acquirer or holder of shares/voting rights in a purchase of a listed company’s shares resultstarget company shall in the purchaser and its affiliates holding more than 5%terms of the company’s outstanding equity shares or voting rights,“Continual Disclosure” requirements disclose to the purchaser and the company must report its holding to thetarget company and the relevant stock exchanges. The agreements also provide thatexchanges the details of holdings of equity shares/voting rights if an acquisition results in the purchaser and its affiliatessuch holding equity shares representingof shares/voting rights is 25% or more than 15% of the outstanding shares/aggregate voting rights as at March 31 every year. The promoter of every target company shall disclose the detail of holding of equity shares/voting rights in thea target company then the purchaseras at March 31 every year. The promoter of every company must before acquiringalso disclose details of shares encumbered by him in a target company as well as details of invocation of encumbered shares or any release of such equity shares, make an offer on a uniform basis to all remaining shareholders of the company to acquire equity shares that have at least an additional 20% of the voting rights of the total equity shares of the company at a prescribed price.encumbrance.

DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN DEPOSITARY SHARES

American Depositary Shares

JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as depositary, issued the American Depositary Shares, or ADSs. Each ADS represents an ownership interest in three equity shares, which we have deposited with the custodian, as agent of the depositary, under the deposit agreement among ourselves, the depositary and each ADR holder. In the future, each ADS will also represent any securities, cash or other property deposited with the depositary but which it has not distributed directly to an ADR holder. The ADSs are evidenced by what is known as American Depositary Receipts or ADRs. The shareholders of the Bank at the 17 ^th Annual General Meeting held on July 6, 2011 approved the sub division of one (1) equity share of the Bank having a nominal value of Rs. 10.0 each into five (5) equity shares with a nominal value of Rs. 2.0 each. As a result of the same, the Bank issued additional proportionate ADSs and each ADSs represents three (3) underlying equity shares of the Bank.

The depositary’s office is located at 4 New York1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, 13th Floor 58, New York, NY 10004.10005.

Investors may hold ADSs either directly or indirectly through their broker or other financial institution. If an investor holds ADSs directly, by having an ADS registered in his name on the books of the depositary, he is an ADR holder. This description assumes that the investor holds his ADSs directly. If an investor holds the ADSs through his broker or financial institution nominee, he must rely on the procedures of such broker or financial institution to assert the rights of an ADR holder described in this section. Investors should consult with their broker or financial institution to find out what these procedures are.

Because the depositary’s nominee will actually be the registered owner of the shares, investors must rely on it to exercise the rights of a shareholder on their behalf. The obligations of the depositary and its agents are set out in the deposit agreement. The deposit agreement and the ADSs are governed by New York law.

The following is a summary of the material terms of the deposit agreement. Because it is a summary, it does not contain all the information that may be important to investors. For more complete information, investors should read the entire deposit agreement and the form of ADR which contains the terms of the ADSs. Investors can read a copy of the deposit agreement which was filed as an exhibit to the registration statement on Form F-1 we filed on July 12, 2001. Investors may also obtain a copy of the deposit agreement at the Securities and Exchange Commission Office, Public Reference Room, which is located at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Investors may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330.

Share Dividends and Other Distributions

We may make various types of distributions with respect to our securities. The depositary has agreed to pay to the investor the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on shares or other deposited securities, after deducting its expenses. The investor will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of underlying shares that the investor’s ADSs represent.

To the extent the depositary is legally permitted, itthe depositary will deliver such distributions to ADR holders in proportion to their interests in the following manner:

Cash

The depositary will distribute any U.S. dollars available to it resulting from a cash dividend or other cash distribution if this is practicable and can be done in a reasonable manner. The depositary will attempt to distribute this cash in a practicable manner, and may deduct any taxes required to be withheld, any expenses of converting foreign currency and transferring funds to the United States and other expenses and adjustments. If exchange rates fluctuate during a time when the depositary cannot convert a foreign currency, investors may lose some or all of the value of the distribution.

Shares

In the case of a distribution in shares, the depositary will issue additional ADRs to evidence the number of ADSs representing such shares. Only whole ADSs will be issued. The depositary will sell any shares which would result in fractional ADSs and distribute the net proceeds to the ADR holders entitled to them.

Rights to Receive Additional Shares

In the case of a distribution of rights to subscribe for additional shares or other rights, if we provide satisfactory evidence that the depositary may lawfully distribute the rights, the depositary may arrange for ADR holders to instruct the depositary as to the exercise of the rights. However, if we do not furnish that evidence or if the depositary determines it is not practical to distribute the rights, the depositary may:

We have no obligation to file a registration statement under the Securities Act in order to make any rights available to ADR holders.

Other Distributions

In the case of a distribution of securities or property other than those described above, the depositary may either:

Any U.S. dollars will be distributed by checks drawn on a bank in the United States for whole dollars and cents (fractional cents will be withheld without liability for interest and added to future cash distributions).

The depositary may choose any practical method of distribution for any specific ADR holder, including the distribution of foreign currency, securities or property, or it may retain those items, without paying interest on or investing them, on behalf of the ADR holder as deposited securities.

The depositary is not responsible if it decides that it is unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to any ADR holders.

We cannot assure investors that the depositary will be able to convert any currency at a specified exchange rate or sell any property, rights, shares or other securities at a specified price, or that any of such transactions can be completed within a specified time period.

Deposit, Withdrawal and Cancellation

The depositary issues ADSs upon the deposit of shares or evidence of rights to receive shares with the custodian.

Except for shares that we deposit, no shares may be deposited by persons located in India, residents of India or for, or on the account of, such persons. Under current Indian laws and regulations, the depositary cannot accept deposits of outstanding shares and issue ADRs evidencing ADSs representing such shares without prior approval of the Government of India. However, an investor who surrenders an ADS and withdraws shares may be permitted to redeposit those shares in the depositary facility in exchange for ADSs and the depositary may accept deposits of outstanding shares purchased by a non-resident of India on the local stock exchange and issue ADSs representing those shares. However, in each case, the number of shares re-deposited or deposited cannot exceed the number represented by ADSs converted into underlying shares.

Shares deposited in the future with the custodian must be accompanied by certain documents, including instruments showing that such shares have been properly transferred or endorsed to the person on whose behalf the deposit is being made. Only the following may be deposited with the depositary or custodian:

We will inform the depositary if any of the shares permitted to be deposited do not rank pari passu with the shares issued in any offering and the depositary will arrange for the ADSs issuable with respect to such shares to be differentiated from those issued in such offering until such time as they rank pari passu with the shares issued in such offering.

The custodian will hold all deposited shares for the account of the depositary. ADR holders thus have no direct ownership interest in the shares and only have such rights as are contained in the deposit agreement. The custodian will also hold any additional securities, property and cash received on or in substitution for the deposited shares. The deposited shares and any such additional items are referred to as “deposited securities.”

Upon each deposit of shares, receipt of related delivery documentation and compliance with the other provisions of the deposit agreement, including the payment of the fees and charges of the depositary and any taxes or other fees or charges owing, the depositary will issue an ADR or ADRs in the name of the person entitled thereto evidencing the number of ADSs to which such person is entitled. Certificated ADRs will be delivered at the depositary’s principal New York office or any other location that it may designate as its transfer office.

When an investor turns in his ADRs at the depositary’s office, the depositary will, upon payment of certain applicable fees, charges and taxes, and upon receipt of proper instructions, deliver the underlying shares in dematerialized form, for which the ADS holder will be required to open an account with a depositary participant of the National Securities Depositary Limited or Central Depositary Services (India) Limited to hold and sell the shares in dematerialized form upon payment of customary fees and expenses. See “Description of Equity Shares—Transfer of Shares.”

The depositary may only restrict the withdrawal of deposited securities in connection with:

This right of withdrawal may not be limited by any other provision of the deposit agreement.

Voting Rights

Investors who hold ADRs have no voting rights with respect to the deposited equity shares. The depositary will abstain from exercising the voting rights of the deposited equity shares. The RBI examined the matter relating to the exercise of voting rights by the depositary and issued a circular dated February 5, 2007 pursuant to which the Bank furnished to the RBI a copy of its agreement with the depository. We have given an undertaking to the RBI stating that we will not recognize voting by the depositary if the vote given by the depositary is in contravention of its agreement with us and that we or the depositary will not bring about any change in our depository agreement without the prior approval of the RBI.

Equity shares which have been withdrawn from the depositary facility and transferred on our register of shareholders to a person other than the depositary or its nominee may be voted by that person. However, such shareholders may not receive sufficient advance notice of shareholder meetings to enable them to withdraw the underlying shares and vote at such meetings.

Record Dates

The depositary may fix record dates for the determination of the ADR holders who will be entitled to receive a dividend, distribution or rights, subject to the provisions of the deposit agreement.

Reports and Other Communications

The depositary will make available for inspection by ADR holders any written communications from us which are both received by the custodian or its nominee as a holder of deposited securities and made generally available to the holders of deposited securities. We will furnish these communications in English.

Additionally, if we make any written communications generally available to holders of our shares, including the depositary or the custodian, and the depositary or the custodian actually receives those written communications, the depositary will mail copies of them, or, at its option, summaries of them to ADR holders.

Fees and Charges for Holders of American Depositary Shares