HDFC Bank’s Aditya Puri Throws His Successor A 15-Day Challenge

HDFC Bank Ltd.’s long-time Chief Executive Officer Aditya Puri steps down in October next year but the lender is yet to name a successor. While investors are fretting about when a new successor would be identified, Puri is not concerned.

He has set the bar high for any aspiring candidate: learn the job in two weeks.

“If my replacement wants to be mentored for 1 year, I don’t want that replacement,” Puri said at the lender's annual general meeting. “At best we want someone who needs 15 days to catch up.”

HDFC Bank has already started a global search for its next CEO as Puri is set to retire in October 2020, when his term ends. They are looking at both internal and external candidates.

Puri, 69, has been instrumental in leading HDFC Bank to India’s most valuable bank. Under him, the lender has skirted the country bad loan crisis that hurt many of the country’s other banks. HDFC Bank’s shares have outperformed the broader banking index for every year since 2014. That’s taken its market capitalisation to more than double that of the country's largest lender State Bank of India.

At the AGM, Puri termed HDFC Bank as a “great brand” with no exposure to the large stressed accounts that are in the news. He noted that the lender has marginal-to-no exposure to accounts like Cox & Kings and IL&FS which have recently defaulted. Growth, non performing assets and margin is not a problem for us, he said.

Other Highlights From Puri’s Speech:

• There is excessive pessimism because India's growth went down in one quarter. In HDFC Bank's opinion, growth for the country looks good.
• Sovereign bond issue, NBFC regulations, bankruptcy regulations, wholistic approach to agriculture, health and insurance schemes are all positive.
• The bank detected 5,484 frauds worth Rs 498 crore in FY19.
• The contribution of overseas HDFC Bank branches is 2 percent. We do not want to go abroad primarily because those economies are in a lot of problems, Puri said.
• All the banks that went abroad aggressively have come back hurt.
• We are opening 600-800 branches every year. But these may not be traditional looking branches.
• Mudra loans are being pushed by the bank with as much credit restraint as we can.
• Well aware of the disruption caused by companies like Google and Amazon in the payments space. We will make our user interface as good as possible.
• SR Batliboi has not been reappointed by HDFC Bank after RBI put out a press release stating they won't approve such appointments.