HDFC Bank to start search for CEO Aditya Puri's successor next year

In March/April next year, HDFC Bank says it will start the process for deciding on a successor to Aditya Puri, its founding managing director and chief executive officer.

The successor will be announced by October 2019, a year prior to Puri stepping down from the charge in October 2020.

The bank's management, in a meeting with analysts, said the successor could be from within or external. Puri has maintained there is a succession plan in place, to ensure a smooth transition.

Paresh Sukthankar, the number two to Puri for a long while, is widely seen as the successor. He was elevated in December 2013 as deputy managing director.

The bank's board of directors gave Puri a five-year extension in July 2015, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the retirement age for private sector banks.

Other private banks are also likely to see a change in their chief executive. The first such would be Axis Bank, where Shikha Sharma is to end her innings this December. She was reappointed by Axis Bank's board for a three-year term beginning June 2018 but RBI asked it to reconsider. After that, on Sharma's request, the tenure was truncated till December 2018.

Ramesh Sobti, managing director and chief executive at IndusInd Bank, will continue till March 2020, when he turns 70. RBI had given a nod for his reappointment as MD & CEO for the period February 1, 2018 to March 23, 2020.