The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked HDFC Bank to hold on to board-level appointments till a new managing director and chief executive officer takes charge.

The communication comes after the private sector lender inducted Sashidhar Jagdishan and Bhavesh Zaveri into the board of the bank in November last. These appointments were subject to the RBI’s approval.

“We are now in receipt of a communication dated April 7, 2020 from Reserve Bank of India stating that since these are important positions in the bank, the bank is advised to examine and submit the proposal after a new MD and CEO assumes charge later this year,” HDFC Bank said in a notification to the exchanges.

“The bank shall accordingly ensure compliance with Reserve Bank’s instruction,” it added.

HDFC Bank also said that Mr. Jagdishan and Mr. Zaveri would continue as additional directors on the board of the bank till the ensuing Annual General Meeting, citing relevant provisions of the Companies Act, 2013.

While Mr. Jagdishan heads functions such as finance and human resources, Mr. Zaveri heads operations, information technology and cash management functions.

Aditya Puri, the managing director of the bank, will hang up his boots after a 26-year stint at the helm of the largest private sector lender of the country, on October 26, 2020.

MCLR cut

Separately, HDFC Bank has also decided to reduce the benchmark lending rate or the marginal cost of fund- based lending rate (MCLR) by 20 bps across all tenors. With this cut, the one-year MCLR will be 7.95% with effect from March 7.

The move comes after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced the repo rate by 75 bps in the last week of March.

State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, has reduced the marginal cost of fund based lending rate (MCLR) by 35 bps from April 10. SBI’s one year MCLR will be 7.40%.