SMART Environmental Performance of Public and Private Sector Banks - A Comparative Study

Abstract

People, planet and profit are not a phrase, but a faith in the society. Maintaining a balance between the human capital and natural capital is the integral part of Bank’s functioning. The stakeholders put their faith on Banks’ operation to ensuring environmental sustainability. For the sustainable development of the nation, commitment to the environment is necessary. Therefore, the banks are long standing their belief on the core values like customer focus, operational excellence, leadership, people and sustainability. Here the sustainability is one of the core values of the Bank, and it believes that maintaining a balance between conservation of natural resources and economic progress is needed. Over the years, as a responsible leading private enterprise HDFC Bank has made their efforts to minimize environmental impact through advancement of specialized activities. Since 2010, the bank undertaking the estimation of Carbon Foot prints each year and have been disclosing their Environmental performance through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). And the bank also committed to follow the nine principles of National Voluntary Guidelines. The present paper attempted to study these environmentally friendly practices of HDFC Bank in the light of primary and secondary data. The data were collected from the head offices of selected districts in Kerala for understanding their involvement in environmental responsible activities. The study results that all the selected districts are almost carryout most of the advancement like digital banking, mobile banking, renewable energy, waste management, energy conservation, natural resources management, IT initiatives etc.