The rating on HDFC Bank Ltd. reflects the bank's "strong" business position, "adequate" capital and earnings, "adequate" risk position, "above-average" funding, and "strong" liquidity, as our criteria define those terms. The bank's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) is 'bbb+'. The rating is two notches below the SACP. We do not rate HDFC Bank above the foreign currency sovereign rating on India (BBB-/Negative/A-3) since the bank operates almost exclusively in India and we do not expect it to be able to withstand the stress associated with a sovereign default. Although we view HDFC Bank as having "moderate" systemic importance in India, the rating reflects no government support at this point. Our bank criteria use our Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) economic
