IDFC First Bank has expanded its retail deposit base to ₹2.38 lakh crore with just over 1,150 branches, leveraging technology and deposit-led growth strategies to outperform peer norms and broaden its customer reach.
IDFC First Bank has expanded its retail deposit franchise from ₹10,400 crore in December 2018 to ₹2.38 lakh crore by June 2026, a rise that Managing Director and Chief Executive V Vaidyanathan said would normally have required a far larger physical network. In a message to shareholders in the bank’s FY2025-26 annual report, he said conventional productivity norms suggested that a peer would need about 2,500 branches to build deposits at that scale, whereas IDFC First Bank has done so with 1,155 branches.
The bank’s push has come alongside a steady emphasis on deposit-led funding and technology-driven distribution. According to reporting by Moneycontrol, Vaidyanathan earlier set out a target of roughly 25% compound annual deposit growth through FY27, alongside about 10% annual branch expansion and deeper digitisation. In remarks carried by ETMarkets and republished by IDFC First Bank, he also said the lender wanted to rely on deposits rather than borrowing to finance growth.
That strategy has helped the bank broaden its customer base. The company says it now serves 39 million customers, while its own website put the figure at 38 million as of March 31, 2026. Its branch count has also continued to climb, with the bank saying it operated 1,147 branches as of March 31, 2026, slightly below the 1,155 figure cited by Vaidyanathan in the annual report released on Sunday, suggesting continued expansion in the months since.
Vaidyanathan, who took charge in December 2018 after the merger of Capital First and IDFC Bank, has long framed IDFC First Bank’s growth around building a mass retail franchise with technology at its core. The bank says that approach is aimed at supporting scale in deposits, lending and customer acquisition without relying solely on a large branch footprint.
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