India Inc's troubleshooter Parekh retires ahead of HDFC, HDFC Bank merger

Parekh led several Indian govt, regulators panels to suggest financial sector reforms

Deepak Parekh, who joined Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) as deputy general manager in 1978, and went on to build one of India’s biggest financial services conglomerates in the last 46 years, retired as chairman on Friday.

Parekh’s retirement is a day before the mega merger between HDFC and HDFC Bank.

He had joined HDFC a year after it was founded by his uncle Hasmukhbhai Parekh. Parekh left a plush job at Chase Manhattan Bank and took a massive pay cut at HDFC.

Parekh, who was the go-to man for the government to handle the Satyam crisis and financial sector reforms, built HDFC into a top housing finance company. Later, he diversified into banking, asset management, life and general insurance, education finance, and real estate venture capital.
 

In 1999, Parekh was appointed chairman of the six-member committee set up by the finance ministry. He was to work out a package to bail out and restructure the Unit Trust of India’s flagship US-64 scheme after it lost investor trust.

A year later, Parekh headed the advisory group for Securities Market Regulation, appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He was also made the chairman of the expert committee constituted by the ministry of power in 2001 to look into reform efforts and turnaround of state electricity boards.
 

These reforms later helped the state electricity boards to restructure their finances. Parekh also led the Primary Market Advisory Committee in 2003 — set up by the Securities and Exchange Board of India to make recommen­dations on policy reforms pertaining to the primary market in India.
 

In 2007, the Manmohan Singh government set up an expert committee to suggest long-term funding options for the infrastructure sector and asked Parekh to headthe committee.

A year later, Parekh led the 11-member high-level task force of the Centre to look into various aspects of providing affordable housing to all.
 

In the same year, Parekh was asked to chair the expert group for recommending investment norms for the New Pension Scheme (NPS) to be launched by the Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA).

Later in 2010, he also led the expert committee for formulation of the proposed Rajiv Awas Yojana. In 2013, he led the high-level committee on Financing Infrastructure and the CERC Compensation and Tariff committee.

During the Tata-Mistry battle, Parekh, then member of Indian Hotels’ board, advised both sides to settle their differences amicably. Industry veterans said Parekh played an important role in shaping the future of India Inc.

“In Deepak Parekh’s retirement, I feel the same today as I felt the day Sachin Tendulkar retired. A true titan in the financial world, a crisis advisor to both governments and many senior industrialists, he has been instrumental in making HDFC a trusted and a household name,” Harsh Goenka, chairman of RPG group, tweeted.

The biggest success story of HDFC was building HDFC Bank as soon as the central government opened the sector to private investment in 1994.
 

Parekh roped in Aditya Puri to lead HDFC Bank. Puri retired as the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of the bank in October 2020. Parekh, who completed his schooling from St Xavier’s High School, Fort, Mumbai, had graduated from Sydenham College in commerce, Mumbai. Parekh went to England in 1965 to qualify as a chartered accountant and joined Chase Manhattan Bank.

Parekh received the Padma Bhushan in 2006. He was also honoured by several other governments, including Germany, France and the Mayor of London.