Specialist in Indian Banking and Economic Research

Hemindra Hazari

Is a Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) registered research analyst with over 25 years experience in the Indian capital markets with a specialization in banking and economy research and has managerial experience of establishing profitable equities business, leading and mentoring analysts.  He has worked with prominent foreign and domestic capital market firms such as UBS, Societe Generale, HSBC, ASK Raymond James  and Karvy Stock  Broking and is a regular guest on business media channels and is respected for his non-consensus view on stocks and the market.

HDFC Bank’s Digital Irresponsibility: RBI’s Novel Penalty Hits Where It Hurts

Selective Disclosure of Sensitive Information? HDFC Bank’s Conference Call on Its Digital Outages

HDFC Bank: Honey, I Shrunk the Chief Risk Officer

US Firms’ Class Action Suits: HDFC Bank’s Auto Loan Malpractices Have Hit the Fan

HDB’s Profit Collapse: Canary in the Coalmine for the NBFC Sector in the Lockdown?

Another Top Executive Leaves HDFC Bank, But Don’t Try Finding the News in the Media

Aditya Puri, the iconic first CEO of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hdfc-bank-ltd-4b6b7a92-9087-468d-9dbe-ab169e77f014" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:558:1" rel="noopener">HDFC Bank (HDFCB IN)</a>, will finally step down on October 26, 2020 after 26 years at the helm. In this period he rightly deserves the credit for making HDFC Bank India’s most valuable bank, with a market capitalisation of US$ 92.1 bn, and the largest private sector bank in India. His leadership qualities, banking <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/12-lessons-from-grand-master-banking-mr-aditya-puri-aseem-dhru/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acumen</a>  and ability to predict change in trends at an early stage insulated the bank from the pitfalls that befell the rest of the banking industry in India.  His single minded dedication to profit maximisation ensured HDFC Bank’s premium valuation on the capital market. While commentators have highlighted his positive attributes, stakeholders and the public should also be aware of his Achilles Heel, namely a history of non-compliance to banking norms and regulation, which was publicly visible when he was heading Citibank’s corporate business in India in 1990. The ruthlessly efficient business model he implemented in HDFC Bank brought with it certain unsavoury aspects of banking: non-compliance with regulatory norms, practices highlighted by the <a href="https://www.cobrapost.com/blog/investigation%20hdfc-bank-introduction/949" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cobrapost expose</a>, the <a href="https://hemindrahazari.com/2020/09/20/us-firms-class-action-suits-hdfc-banks-auto-loan-malpractices-have-hit-the-fan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mis-selling</a> of products to unsuspecting customers, the high pressure on lower level staff to achieve ambitious targets and the lack of transparency to stakeholders on important developments such as  irregularities at the bank and the sudden  <a href="https://hemindrahazari.com/2020/07/13/another-top-executive-leaves-hdfc-bank-but-dont-try-finding-the-news-in-the-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exits</a>  of senior staff. Sashidhar Jagdisan, Puri’s handpicked successor, inherits a strong banking platform geared towards shareholder returns and growth, but he should ensure that HDFC Bank avoids the fate of Wells Fargo, a bank much admired by Puri before it suffered setbacks due to mis-selling and poor adherence to regulatory norms.

Aditya Puri, the iconic first CEO of HDFC Bank (HDFCB IN), will finally step down on October 26, 2020 after 26 years at the helm. In this period he rightly deserves the credit for making HDFC Bank India’s most valuable bank, with a market capitalisation of US$ 92.1 bn, and the largest private sector bank in India. His leadership qualities, banking acumen  and ability to predict change in trends at an early stage insulated the bank from the pitfalls that befell the rest of the banking industry in India.  His single minded dedication to profit maximisation ensured HDFC Bank’s premium valuation on the capital market. While commentators have highlighted his positive attributes, stakeholders and the public should also be aware of his Achilles Heel, namely a history of non-compliance to banking norms and regulation, which was publicly visible when he was heading Citibank’s corporate business in India in 1990. The ruthlessly efficient business model he implemented in HDFC Bank brought with it certain unsavoury aspects of banking: non-compliance with regulatory norms, practices highlighted by the Cobrapost expose, the mis-selling of products to unsuspecting customers, the high pressure on lower level staff to achieve ambitious targets and the lack of transparency to stakeholders on important developments such as  irregularities at the bank and the sudden  exits  of senior staff. Sashidhar Jagdisan, Puri’s handpicked successor, inherits a strong banking platform geared towards shareholder returns and growth, but he should ensure that HDFC Bank avoids the fate of Wells Fargo, a bank much admired by Puri before it suffered setbacks due to mis-selling and poor adherence to regulatory norms.

Time to Junk the Less Savoury Parts of the Legacy of HDFC Bank’s Iconic CEO