Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director, HDFC Bank, on Saturday said that the lender will grow in such a way that it will add a new HDFC Bank every four years, even as it will enhance the branch network by over 1,500 every year to reach out to the burgeoning middle and upper segment in the country.

Jagdishan made these observations in his first communication to employees of the amalgamated entity.

On Friday, the boards of both the companies had said that July 1 would be the effective date for the merger.

He assured that more than 4,000 employees of HDFC, who joined the bank’s rolls on Saturday, that their job and pay will be protected. Here, he disclosed that an independent external expert was engaged to ensure fairness in tagging the right destination roles and levels in the bank.

“The runway for financial services and mortgage, which are so underserved and underpenetrated, is going to be very large. HDFC Bank — the combined entity — with a large and growing distribution and customer franchise, more than adequate capital, healthy asset quality and profitability, will be best positioned to capture growth. The pace at which we aim to grow — we could be creating a new HDFCBank every 4 years,” he said.

HDFC Bank began the day one after the merger with are branding exercise, wherein it is putting up its colours at all the over 500 branches and offices of HDFC Ltd.