Aditya Puri sells shares worth ₹843 crore in HDFC Bank

HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri has sold 7.42 million shares or 0.13% stake worth ₹842.87 crore in the bank between 21 July and 23 July, stock exchange filings show.

Puri, whose tenure ends in October, held 0.14% stake or 7.8 million shares as of 30 June, before the transaction. With this sale, the veteran banker now holds 3.76 lakh shares or 0.01% stake in the bank.

An HDFC Bank spokesperson said these shares were allotted to Puri at different times and at different price points (not at par). Therefore, the net amount realized by him is not ₹840 crore. The acquisition cost of shares and the tax payable on the transaction has to be accounted for as well, he said.

Last year in November, HDFC Bank board set up a search committee to identify his successor. In a notice to stock exchanges, the bank 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 executive officer. Puri will act as an advisor to the search committee.

Puri, who turns 70 next year, has been credited with building India’s most valuable bank since its inception in 1994. As on 24 July, the private sector bank’s market capitalization stood at ₹6.14 trillion. The bank has sent three shortlisted names to Reserve Bank of India as Puri’s successor: Sashidhar Jagdishan and Kaizad Bharucha—both executive directors of the bank—and Sunil Garg, global chief executive officer of Citi Commercial Bank.

Recently top-level exits at HDFC Bank Ltd has turned the spotlight on the country’s largest private sector lender, which is set for a top leadership change later this year. Since March, the bank has seen the exits of Abhay Aima, group head of private banking; Ashok Khanna, group head of secured vehicle loans; and Munish Mittal, chief information officer—all HDFC Bank veterans and close aides of its long-time managing director Aditya Puri.