Parekh: Bidding adieu

Mumbai, Dec. 4: HDFC chairman and CEO Deepak Parekh will step down next month after serving the housing lender for 31 years.

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

Mistry, who joined HDFC Ltd in 1981, has served on the board for 16 years. He has worked in various positions and will now be responsible for the overall functioning of the corporation.

Parekh will continue as non-executive chairman of HDFC, the holding company of its group ventures, including HDFC Bank.

Renu Sud Karnad, currently the joint managing director, will become the new managing director from January 1, 2010 for a period of five years.

Karnad joined HDFC in 1978 and has been on the board for the last nine years. She will continue to be responsible for the operations, human resources and communications functions of HDFC.

Parekh is 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 a member of the Investment Commission that advises the government on ways to attract foreign funds into India.

He was asked to anchor software maker Satyam when it was hit by an accounting scam earlier this year.

Parekh was also instrumental in reviving the Unit Trust of India, the government-owned mutual fund house, in the late 1990s.

HDFC 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.