HDFC Bank to seek RBI approval for Aditya Puri’s successor by July-August

Private sector lender HDFC Bank Ltd is likely to send a shortlist of candidates to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by July-August, seeking approval for a replacement of outgoing managing director Aditya Puri, said a senior bank official on Saturday.

Speaking to analysts after the bank’s December quarter results, Sashidhar Jagdishan, executive director, HDFC Bank, said that the board of directors on Saturday has agreed upon the search firm that is going to help in the process. He declined to name the firm but said, there are minor cost or commercial negotiations that need to be inked out in the next couple of days.

“We do have a roadmap or a glidepath as to when the longlist and shortlist of candidates will happen, when the interviews will be slated. I think that kind of granular details have been agreed upon in the board meeting today,” said Jagdishan.

In November last year, the lender had informed stock exchanges that it kick-started the much-awaited process of finding a successor to its longest-serving chief Aditya Puri, whose tenure ends on 26 October 2020.

The bank had said that it has set up a six-member committee comprising board members—HDFC Bank chairman Shyamala Gopinath, Sanjiv Sachar, M.D. Ranganathan, Sandeep Parekh, Srikanth Nadhamuni and Keki Mistry—to find the new chief. Puri will act as an advisor to the search committee. Over the next few months, the committee will evaluate internal and external candidates to ensure smooth transition, the notice had added.

In May 2018, Puri had told analysts that the bank will start the process of identifying his successor. Meanwhile, at the annual general meeting last year, Puri had said that his replacement should be better than him and should not require 18 months handholding for the job.