Mumbai, Jun 14 (IANS): HDFC Bank on Thursday welcomed the government's approval of Rs 24,000 crore foreign direct investment (FDI) into the bank.

In an official statement, the bank said: "This decision comes against the backdrop of an expected pick-up in credit growth driven by consumption-led demand and a recovery in the investment cycle."

"We are delighted to hear that the government has approved our capital raising proposal. The additional capital will go a long way in supporting our growth plans over the next few years, especially in semi-urban and rural India," said Paresh Sukthankar, Deputy Managing Director, HDFC Bank.

"We do believe this decision bodes well for the overall investment climate and foreign inflows as well," Sukthankar added.

As of March 31, 2018 the bank had a network of 4,787 branches and 12,635 ATMs and had 4.3 crore customers across 2,691 Indian towns and cities. The bank's balance sheet for the year stood at Rs 10.63 lakh crore.

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that with this additional FDI foreign equity in HDFC Bank would continue to remain within the mandatory cap of 74 per cent.

"The current 72.62 percent foreign equity holding is being raised to 74 per cent with this Rs 24,000 crore FDI," he said.

Goyal also said the bank's capital adequacy ratio would be strengthened in this way, and it had also indicated its intent to expand both its physical branches network as well as its digital banking reach.