HDFC Bank, one of the largest private sector banks in India, today announced an agreement with IBM India to build a cost-effective IT framework that will support the bank's strong business growth. HDFC Bank is the first commercial bank in India to adopt the IBM mainframe and has joined the ranks of the world's top 50 banks that continue to run on System z technology.

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HDFC Bank appointed IBM after evaluating the systems and technology from IBM and other vendors. The bank also carried out benchmark tests for its core banking application and systems on the IBM System z mainframe.

The collaboration will enable HDFC Bank to keep its critical credit card processing requirements in-house while offering robust and uninterrupted service to its customers. It will also eliminate additional investments in data center costs and offer the option to migrate other HDFC Bank applications, such as core banking, to System z mainframes.

The collaboration may also benefit customers by adding more features on existing credit card products, enabling higher processing speed and quicker response time. It will also scale up the customer service process and enhance interfacing capabilities with other applications, leading to more features on self-service channels like Internet.

Commenting on the tie-up, Anil Jaggia, Chief Information Officer, HDFC Bank said, "HDFC Bank has a stellar track record of using technology as the key focus element to its banking strategy - delivering significant operational efficiencies and cutting-edge customer solutions. In all our IT investments, we try to seek a balance between adopting the most innovative solutions while keeping our investments as pragmatic as possible."

"'HDFC Bank is a perfect example of IBM's commitment to help organizations build streamlined, more dynamic infrastructures that allow them to become more resilient, better positioned for growth and full participants in a smarter planet," said Kumar Karpe, Country Manager - Financial Services Sector, IBM India & South Asia. "For the bank's data center, IBM worked with HDFC Bank to create an IT roadmap that minimizes their application and carbon footprint. For the bank's boardroom, IBM helped HDFC Bank discover System z technology as one of the world's most sophisticated business servers that delivers breakthrough performance, extreme efficiency and low total cost of ownership through virtualization, unmatched resilience and quality of service."

About HDFC Bank

Promoted in 1995 by Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), India's leading housing finance company, HDFC Bank is one of India's premier banks providing a wide range of financial products and services to its over 11 million customers across hundreds of Indian cities using multiple distribution channels including a pan-India network of branches, ATMs, phone banking, net banking and mobile banking. Within a relatively short span of time, the bank has emerged as a leading player in retail banking, wholesale banking, and treasury operations, its three principal business segments.

The bank's competitive strength clearly lies in the use of technology and the ability to deliver world-class service with rapid response time. Over the last 13 years, the bank has successfully gained market share in its target customer franchises while maintaining healthy profitability and asset quality.

As of December 31, 2008, the Bank had a distribution network with 1,412 branches and 3,177 ATMs in 527 cities.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2008, the Bank earned total income of Rs. 14,257.4 crores as against Rs. 8,892.6 crores in the corresponding period of the previous year. Net revenues (net interest income plus other income) for the nine months ended December 31, 2008 were Rs. 7,745.1 crores, up by 45.6% over Rs. 5,319.6 crores for the nine months ended December 31, 2007. Net Profit for the nine months ended December 31, 2008 was Rs. 1,614.1 crores, up by 44.2% over the corresponding nine months ended December 31, 2007.

The Bank's total balance sheet size increased by 39.4% from Rs. 131,440 crores as of December 31, 2007 to Rs. 183,185 crores as of December 31, 2008. Total deposits were Rs. 144,862 crores, an increase of 45.8% from December 31, 2007.

Total income for the year ended March 31, 2008 grew by 52% to INR 123.98 billion (Rs12398.2 crore) over the corresponding year ended March 31, 2007.

Leading Indian and international publications have recognized the bank for its performance and quality.

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  About IBM

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  For media queries please contact:

  HDFC Bank
  Neeraj Jha
  Head, Corporate Communications
  HDFC Bank Ltd., Mumbai.
  Tel:  91 - 22 - 6652 1308 (D) / 6652 1000 (B)
  Fax: 91 - 22 - 2490 3168
  Mobile: 093236 20828
  neeraj.jha@hdfcbank.com

  IBM
  Sowmya Ramachandran
  Corporate Communications
  IBM India/South Asia
  E-mail: soramach@in.ibm.com
  Mobile: +91 9845181220

  IBM
  Mylissa Tsai
  System z Media Relations
  Email: tsaim@us.ibm.com
  Phone: 1-917-472-3680

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: tsaim@us.ibm.com

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SOURCE: IBM Corporation