HDFC Bank shortlists three names to replace Aditya Puri as CEO

HDFC Bank has “finalised the names of three candidates for the position of the managing director and chief executive officer of the Bank”. These names will be submitted to Reserve Bank of India for its approval and upon receiving that due disclosures will be made, the bank said in a statement to the stock exchanges on Saturday.

According to an earlier ET report, the bank has three contenders to succeed Puri. These include Sashidhar (Sashi) Jagdishan and Kaizad Bharucha, both executive directors of the bank, and Sunil Garg, global CEO of Citi Commercial Bank.

Puri, 69, is credited with building the bank from scratch since its 1994 inception and turning it into a financial giant with a balance sheet size of nearly Rs 14 lakh crore. His term will end in October 2020.

The bank had constituted a six-member search committee last year to find a replacement and appointed Egon Zehnder to assist in the hunt. Puri, who has more than 40 years of experience in the banking sector, is an advisor to the search committee.

There has been speculation over whether his successor will be from within the bank or outside. In an interview with ET in February, Puri said that the board acknowledges the contributions of insiders to the evolution of the bank.