IDFC was incorporated on 30 January 1997 by
Government of India, with its registered office in
Chennai, and started operations on 9 June 1997. In 1998 the company registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC). In the year 1999 the company was notified as
Public Financial Institution. In August 2005, the company's equity shares were listed on the
National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after an
initial public offering (IPO).
Government of India cut down its ownership from 100% to 34.91% through the IPO, despite that it still retains majority ownership. In May 2008, the company entered into asset management by acquiring the AMC business of
Standard Chartered Bank in India, namely Standard Chartered Asset Management Company Pvt Ltd and Standard Chartered Trustee Company Pvt Ltd; the acquired companies were re-branded as IDFC Asset Management Company Pvt Ltd and IDFC AMC Trustee Company Pvt Ltd respectively. In 2008–09, the company acquired 100% of the share capital of IDFC Capital (Singapore) Pvt Ltd. In the same year, the company established IDFC Foundation to focus on capacity building, policy advisory and sustainability initiatives.
IDFC Bank started operating banking services on 1 October 2015. On 1 October 2024, IDFC Limited was merged with the bank, with shareholders receiving 155 shares of IDFC First Bank for every 100 IDFC Limited shares. ==References==