Nice Perspective put forward by Aditya Grover here:

Hat Tip: alphaideas.in

Pick up in western markets post inventory destocking, expected volume pick up in Q3 due to holiday season and higher contribution from value added products are positive triggers but one should watch out for the impact of the Red Sea issue on the cost/potential delays. Results on Jan 29 should provide better clarity.

Disclosure: Invested and biased

As per Dec 2023 shareholding info, Ashish Kacholia has entered the stock holding 6,28,366 shares or 1.14%. I could not see his name in the previous quarter.

Yes, partly true. Again, the opinions expressed w.r.t branch expansion is based on the experiences of different individuals.

The expansion of branches into Tier 2 and 3 is meaningful because these areas are typically served by PSU banks and the private banks would definitely want a pie of that customer base

Other than this, rapid expansion of branches without a clear strategy in urban areas is not convincing to me for the below reasons:

1. One gets to see more HDFC banks adjacent to each other, as I mentioned in my previous post. I haven’t seen the Kotaks or IDFCs like this
2. The majority of the current customer base of private banks are tech-savvy, salaried or business-oriented and will not have time to visit the branches
3. Most banks are flooded with either pensioners or those who flood the banks to withdraw the money deposited through various government schemes and Jan dhan accounts (zero value to CASA but only puts operational stress on the banks)
4. The consumers are very informed these days when it comes to insurance, and they compare various schemes through aggregators like policy bazaar and ditto before deciding to buy one. Even legacy insurance players like LIC employ associates who will reach out to potential customers at their offices or homes
5. The same goes for home loans as well, since agents catch hold of potential customers either at their office or through tele-marketing. On average, I get to receive at least 5–6 calls daily offering pre-approved home and personal loans

I believe the HDFC bank management knows better but they should have a clear strategy for the expansion of branches and justify the same through acceptable revenue per branch and revenue per employee metrics

Yesterday i had visited HDFC bank in Visakhapatnam as my upi transactions were blocked and they had insisted me to visit the branch personally. After completion of my work, they had insisted me to take term insurance. They are offering term insurances other than HDFC related also. When i told that i had already a term insurance, then they were asking me about mutual funds. They had also offering me other mutual funds also.