ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank played down issues of being considered as foreign banks due to their majority foreign shareholding and said they persist in remaining Indian.
Both these banks along with 5 other private sector banks are expected to be affected by the new FDI policy as foreign shareholding in them is more than 50%. This disqualifies them from being regarded as local companies.
Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Bank’s managing director and CEO, said “Our management continues to be Indian. We continue to remain as a bank of Indian origin. Beyond that the classification of shareholding does not really impact our day-to-day performance”.
The government decision is expected to affect the future investment plans of these banks in associates or in sectors having a limit on foreign investment but Kochhar said this was not a big issue with the bank.
HDFC Bank’s managing director, Aditya Puri, also held an equivalent view, saying that the FDI policy did not create any problem for the bank.
The bank is still an Indian bank with Indians holding voting rights.
Puri said, “Voting rights are with Indians. There is no issue as such. The fact is that we are an Indian bank and the voting rights are with Indians. Then how can you say (it is a foreign bank)”.