““In the first year of its operations, HDFC Bank, which was actually a mere two and a half months old, recorded a deposit base of ₹642 crore, advances of ₹98 crore, investments of ₹221 crore and a profit of ₹80.20 lakh, after paying tax of ₹40.60 lakh. There was not much business to talk about and hence its first annual report spoke about the four core values the bank stood for—operational excellence, customer focus, product leadership and professional people. The report tried to tell shareholders and investors what the bank stood for rather than what it had done, as very little had been achieved so far.””