HDFC Bank to give instant loans up to ₹40 lakh for customers’ medical bills at Apollo Hospitals

HDFC Bank on Wednesday announced a tie-up with Apollo Hospitals through which its customers can avail unsecured loans of up to ₹40 lakh to pay for medical expenses incurred at the healthcare chain.

The loans will be disbursed almost instantly as and when a need for money arises, and the hospital patients who are customers of HDFC Bank will also receive preferential treatment, its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Aditya Puri told reporters.

Apollo Executive Vice-Chairperson Shobana Kamineni said HDFC Bank has 65 million customers who can take advantage of this facility.

She stressed that while availing health insurance is necessary, it does not cover all the aspects despite providing cashless facilities and hence, such a tie-up will help.

Apollo had launched 'the Healthylife Programme' earlier this year to take care of multiple diseases and ailments, and HDFC Bank customers who will be registering as part of the tie-up will be made part of the same, she said. Currently, there are 4 million members on the platform, Kamineni added.

HDFC Bank Group Head (Corporate Banking) Rahul Shukla said the base programme subscription comes without any charges for its customers but parried the question when asked if this would be an exclusive tie-up for the lender.

Puri said the bank is not stressed and has a healthy capital adequacy of over 18 per cent which will ensure that it will keep lending.