HDFC Bank sends two names to RBI for CEO post

MUMBAI: The board of HDFC Bank has sent in two undisclosed names to the Reserve Bank as possible candidates to succeed the incumbent managing director and chief executive Sashidhar Jagdishan, who last month said he was not interested in a third term after his current appointment ends late next month—a decision that came under duress as so many things went wrong under his watch in the recent past, forcing the board to keep delaying the discuss his reappointment.

Jagdishan’s tumultuous six-year tenure ends on October 26 this year.

“The board of the bank on Saturday approved the appointment process of the bank’s next managing director and chief executive by recommending two candidates to the Reserve Bank in order of preference,” the second largest bank said in an exchange filing Saturday, without disclosing the names, though insiders say Kaizad M Bharucha and Jimmy Tata are the most likely candidates.

The proposed appointments, including the remuneration, will be for three years and are subject to RBI approval, it added.

The filing also said the board has approved reappointment of V Srinivasa Rangan as an executive director apart from elevating Jimmy Tata as a whole-time director, subject to RBI approvals. An additional whole-time director position will be created for improved oversight and succession planning.

The move comes as HDFC Bank fast-tracks succession planning after Jagdishan decided not to seek another term and will retire from next month. His decision followed months of uncertainty over his continuation. The leadership transition comes after a year marked by questions over governance and investor returns following the bank’s reverse merger with its parent Housing Development Finance Corp in July 2023.

The abrupt resignation of part-time chairman Atanu Chakraborty in March this year had also raised governance questions, while the bank’s shares have underperformed peers since the merger. External legal reviews later found Chakraborty’s concerns were not substantiated by the records and interviews examined.

While Rangan’s reappointment is for a year from November 23, 2026, Tata elevation as executive director is for three years from the date of RBI approval or any other date or period specified by the central bank.

The bank will also add one more whole-time director position, taking the total number of whole-time directors on its board to four, apart from the MD & CEO.

The bank said the additional position is aimed at improving synergy and oversight, including of the bank’s subsidiaries, while creating a larger pipeline for succession planning.

The new whole-time director’s position will be filled in consultation with the incoming MD & CEO. The bank said the required shareholder approvals for the appointments will be sought in due course.

The bank also claimed none of the candidates are related to each other or to any other director or key managerial personnel of the bank. It also said they are not debarred from holding the office of a director under any Sebi order or any other authority.