Aditya Puri Sells HDFC Bank Shares Worth Rs 843 Crore
The banker sold 74.2 lakh shares or 0.13% stake.
HDFC Bank Ltd. Managing Director Aditya Puri has offloaded nearly all his stake in the private lender three months before his term ends.
The banker sold 74.2 lakh shares or 0.13% stake for a total of Rs 842.8 crore between July 21-23, insider trading disclosures on the BSE website showed. Puri had held 0.14% stake in the bank before the sale. He continues to hold 3.76 lakh shares or 0.01% stake in the bank.
The shares were allotted to Puri at different times and different price points, an HDFC Spokesperson said in a clarification. “Therefore, the net amount realised by Mr. Puri is not Rs 843 crore as stated. The acquisition cost of shares and the tax payable on the transaction has to be accounted for.”
Puri's 26-year stint at HDFC Bank will come to an end in October, making him the longest-serving head of an Indian private bank. He is also one of the highest-paid bank executives having netted a salary of Rs 15.9 crore in FY20.
Over the years, Puri has been allotted stock options in HDFC Bank and HDB Financial. In FY20, he exercised stock options worth Rs 161 crore, the bank’s annual report shows.
HDFC Bank has already shortlisted three potential successors to Puri, including two insiders Sasidhar Jagdishan and Kaizad Bharucha, as well as Sunil Garg, head of Citi Commercial Bank. The bank is awaiting regulatory approval for its next MD & CEO.
At the bank’s recent annual general meeting, Puri said in his mind the successor is very clear. “There has been a lot of talk about the successor not being with us for a long time. Our potential successor has been with us for 25 years. My successor was always in place, at least in my mind. It is now for RBI to decide what was been given to them.”
Shares of HDFC had closed 1.05% lower on Friday. The stock has climbed 34% since April, tracking the rally in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.
