We operate in a highly regulated industry where compliance is non-negotiable. Our operations comply with all applicable legal, environmental, and social regulations. We abide by the Companies Act, 2013, the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and the applicable RBI and SEBI regulations, among others. The Bank's equity shares are traded on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd., BSE Ltd., and its American Depository Shares (ADS) are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Our Corporate Governance philosophy, articulated in our ESG framework, is anchored to the cardinal principles of independence, accountability, transparency, fair disclosures, responsibility and credibility. Our policies and guidelines demonstrate that good governance is ingrained in our culture. The Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy as well as the Code of Conduct, help us perform our operations in an ethical manner.

We work in a highly automated environment and use cutting-edge technology to support a variety of operations. We are guided by the Information Security Policy and the Cyber Security Policy. Further, an independent assurance team within Internal Audit provides assurance on the management of information technology-related risks. To mitigate information technology-related risks, we have implemented a governance framework, information security practises, and a business continuity plan.

Being in the service sector, Information Security and Data Protection are of utmost importance to us. To ensure customer privacy, we also follow the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India's (BCSBI) 'Code of Bank's Commitment to Customers' and Employee and Customer Awareness Procedures.

Our customer-centric approach caters to our customers’ financial goals while providing insightful, relevant, contextualised, and hyper-personalised experiences. We conduct satisfaction surveys on a regular basis to gather feedback on our products and services.

We strictly adhere to market conduct regulations to provide transparent, accurate, and comprehensive marketing statements, advertising and product/service labelling to our customers and clients. We have established frameworks, strategies, policies, and procedures, as well as systems, to ensure and maintain transparency in communication, allowing them to make informed decisions.

With the increased demand for ESG disclosures among stakeholders, it is critical to ensure that such reporting is accurate and reliable. We have a sustainability strategy and reporting programme in place that clearly articulates our sustainability strategy, risks, and opportunities, as well as performance on material ESG topics.
We also place high value on report assurance, so our Sustainability Report and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions are verified by third-party auditors in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (revised) Standards.

Economic performance is critical to maintain stability and positive momentum. We strive to provide our stakeholders with increased long-term value. Even during challenging times, we have performed well, aided by our prudent management and capital allocation strategies.

Through the effective use of processes, information and technology, we have deployed a multi-layered risk management strategy that identifies, assesses, monitors and manages risks (credit, market, liquidity, interest rate, and operational). A Board-approved Stress Testing Policy & System, which is an integral aspect of our ICAAP, is part of our overall risk management framework (Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process). Stress testing is done by employing a variety of ways to determine our vulnerability to excessive yet realistically stressful scenarios. Additionally, we use a SEMS (Social & Environmental Management System) framework to analyse social and environmental credit risks. Risk exposures are actively identified and reported to the appropriate levels of management, so that risk mitigation actions can be implemented. The risk management function is independent of business and reports directly to the Managing Director.

Financial inclusion is key to India’s inclusive development agenda. The banking sector has a pivotal role to play in serving the underbanked, especially in rural and semi-urban areas. We see this as an opportunity to broaden our reach and make our products and services more accessible. While we continue to focus on the Corporate Cluster and Government Business to increase penetration, we see Commercial (MSME) and Rural Banking driving the next wave of growth.

Evaluation of environmental and social risk is an integral part of our overall credit appraisal and approval process. Large industrial/infrastructure projects where the extension of long-term financing (greater than `100 Million and longer than 5 years) are covered under the Bank’s Social & Environment Monitoring System (SEMS) which necessitates an assessment of Environmental, Health, Social, and Safety risks in addition to other risks, as part of the overall credit appraisal process. As a rule, we do not fund projects that have a negative impact on the environment, health, or safety. We want to make funding available for environmentally viable projects that help mitigate climate change risks. To reduce our carbon footprint, we continue to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. Customers are also encouraged to make ‘green banking’ decisions.

W We engage with employees and their families through a variety of initatives through our Employee Connect program. Over the years and especially during the pandemic, we saw a significant increase in the employee participation. Many of these initiatives were virtually run during the last two years to ensure employee safety. We also run an Employee Welfare Trust which is primarily set up to support employees in case of emergencies where the expenses extend beyond the mediclaim cover that we provide to all employees and their families. During the pandemic, support from the trust was generously extended to all employees who needed it.

We believe in giving back to the community. Through our CSR brand ‘Parivartan’, we work towards empowering the most disadvantaged sections of the society around our area of operations, to be selfreliant. The Board-level CSR & ESG Committee oversees the initiatives and tracks progress on a regular basis. To secure the nation's growth and development, as well as the well-being of its residents, we have aligned our actions with government missions and programmes.

We have a diversified lending portfolio that covers a wide range of industries including power, heavy industries and real estate. In compliance with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures' recommendations, we are exploring the process of analysing the Bank's resilience to physical and transition risks of climate change and continue our endeavour to acquire granular data and test tools for climate risk assessment and conducting scenario analysis.

We regularly review and monitor climate change impact on the Bank’s cost of debt. At present, we view the impact as relatively less significant.

We recognise our role in the transition to a low-carbon economy. At HDFC Bank, we have been recording our GHG emissions and will continue to track and report our carbon footprint. Recently, we pledged to become carbon neutral by FY32. We continue to scale up the use of renewable energy and energy management measures at our operations. Climate change may have a substantial impact on our activities, and thus, we have initiated steps towards the implementation of TCFD recommendations.