Deepak Parekh to step down as HDFC chief in Jan

HDFC's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Deepakh Parekh will step down next month after serving the housing lender for 31 years - a period that saw the lender become the numero uno in housing segment.

K K Mistry, currently vice-chairman and managing director, will take over as vice-chairman and CEO when Parekh steps down on January 1, 2010.

The reshuffle will see Parekh continuing as non-executive chairman of HDFC, the holding company of its group ventures incuding HDFC Bank.

Parekh is widely consulted by the government on a wide range of issues of national importance and has been a member of various government appointed committees and advisory panels, which includes financial services, capital markets and infrastructure sector reforms.

 

He is also member of the Investment Commission that advises the government on ways to attract greater FDI inflows into India and would be amply complemented by Karnik - a revered brand equity builder.

He was roped in to anchor software maker Satyam when it was hit by an accounting scam earlier this year. Prakeh was also instrumental in the revival plan of Unit Trust of India, government-owned mutual fund house, in the late 1990s.

HDFC said in a statement that Mistry would now be responsible for the overall functioning of the company and Renu Sud Karnad, currently joint MD, has been appointed as managing director.

The company was incorporated in October 1977 and disbursed the first housing loan the following year. Today, it boasts of three million customers.

In 1993, Deepak Parekh took over as Chairman from his uncle and HDFC's founder Hasmukhbhai Parekh. "Taking over from H T Parekh is a formidable task; his vision brought about not only an institution, but an entire concept which has proved itself to be of lasting importance," HDFC website quoted Deepak Parekh as saying then.

When he leaves, Deepak Parekh will be leaving the company as the leader in the housing loan segment.

HDFC disbursed Rs 22,342 crore of loans in the first six months of the current fiscal, when it also recorded a profit of Rs 1,228 crore.