Barve to step down as chief of HDFC MF; agrees to three-month extension

Milind Barve, who has served as managing director of HDFC Mutual Fund (MF), for the last 20 years will be stepping down from his position after his term ends in October, 2020.

In an exchange disclosure, the fund house informed that Barve had expressed his desire not to seek an extension of his current term expiring on October 31, 2020 as he was turning 63 this year. However, to provide adequate time for identifying a successor and smooth functioning of business, Barve agreed to an extension of three months, which is upto January 31, 2021.

On Thursday, the board of directors re-appointed Barve as managing director, subject to approval of members at the company’s annual general meeting.

Barve has been among the longest serving managing directors in the Rs 24-trillion mutual fund (MF) industry, where continuity of senior management personnel has been key to the success and growth of the asset management business.

During his tenure, the fund house saw its successful listing on the bourses, becoming only the second fund house to get listed in the 44-player industry.

During Barve’s long-tenure, the fund house has seen significant growth, holding the tag of the largest fund house in the country till recently.

At Rs 3.69 trillion of assets under management (March quarter average), the fund house is now at second spot behind SBI MF. Over the last three years, the fund house’s asset base (on March quarter basis) has compounded at annual growth rate of 24.77 per cent.

Last year, HDFC MF had come under regulatory glare along with other fund houses for entering into a standstill agreement with the Essel group promoters. The fund house along with Kotak MF were served show-cause notices for Essel exposures in fixed maturity plans (FMPs), which were expiring before the extended timelines given to promoters.

Eventually, the fund house decided to take the Essel group exposure onto its own books to allow exit to the FMP investors.

“HDFC MF has found favourable recall in minds of financial services consumers due to the overall goodwill enjoyed by HDFC group, tag of country’s largest asset manager for long period of time and equity schemes being chartbusters in earlier time-frames, has also cemented HDFC MF’s positive view in investors’ minds,” said Amol Joshi, founder of Plan Rupee Investment Services.