In his 26-year-long illustrious stint, at the helm of the country’s premier private sector bank, Aditya Puri won innumerable accolades. They came not just from India, but from across the world. The Economist in its November 2020 edition acknowledged Puri as the “world’s best banker” for “creating something from nothing and delivering long-term shareholder return while supporting the economy”.

HDFC Bank was incorporated in 1994 under a strategic alliance between HDFC and the UK-based NatWest Markets. In March 1995, it went public raising Rs.50 million, through an at-par IPO, which was oversubscribed 55x. The ‘something from nothing’ remark can be gauged from this one statistic — since May 1995, the stock has delivered a whopping 33.64% CAGR. Simply put, Rs.10,000 invested then, would be Rs.14.1 million today. Not to mention the Rs.457,950 worth of dividends. At its listing price of Rs.40 in 1995, on equity of 2 billion shares, the bank was worth Rs.8 billion. Today, it is worth Rs.7.91 trillion! The bank has the highest weightage in the Nifty 50, at 11.21%.

Just as it seemed to be reaching another pinnacle, the bank began being weighed down. First, there were market whispers when the outgoing CEO cashed out his entire holding. Then, the market began getting antsy about top-level executives resigning in significant numbers and, finally, the RBI came down hard on HDFC Bank, when the latter’s digital services stalled a few times. And, all of this was happening against the backdrop of the pandemic, which has given rise to concerns over the possibility of retail loans turning bad.