India-based HDFC Bank, is eyeing on expanding its business to rural areas, with an intention to make its rural operation profitable by 2016.
HDFC Bank chief executive Aditya Puri was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that the bank would aggressively expand over the next five years into "semiurban and rural" locations, where it operates more than half of its branches but makes less than a fifth of its revenues.
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"It is a misconception that everyone in rural India is poor; there is a lot of damn wealth out there," he explained, adding that the bank’s rural businesses would cease making losses "in a year or two".
Under a five-year programme, the bank will open branches and promote sales drives centered on products for rural consumers.
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