The controversy surrounding , India’s largest private lender, shows no signs of abating, with media reports indicating potential action against 12 more executives over the alleged mis-selling of additional tier-1 (AT-1) bonds.
A CNBC-TV18 report on April 2 said the bank has penalised 12 additional executives, over and above the three senior officials who were dismissed last month.
Those dismissed earlier include Sampath Kumar, group head of branch banking, along with Harsh Gupta (Executive Vice President, Middle East, Africa, and NRI onshore business) and Payal Mandhyan (Senior Vice President), as per an earlier report.
Meanwhile, the business news channel said that among the 12 executives on radar now, four executives, including Ashish Parthasarthy, group head of branch banking and treasury, are facing severe action, while eight others are likely to face minor penalties.
Mint could not independently verify this report.
It can be noted that in September last year, authorities in Dubai had barred HDFC Bank from adding new customers at its branch in the Dubai International Financial Services Centre as a penalty for the alleged mis-selling of Credit Suisse’s additional tier-1 bonds, which were written off in 2023.
Following the dismissal of three employees last month, the lender told PTI that it has identified certain gaps in client-onboarding requirements at its DIFC branch in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and completed a detailed and objective review of the matter.
These developments come just days after the resignation of chairman over “ethical concerns”.
In an interview with CNBC-TV18 on Monday, former chairman Atanu Chakraborty said the mis-selling of AT-1 —which had drawn regulatory scrutiny—as well as HDFC Bank’s underperformance were key reasons behind his resignation.
He noted that the issue of mis-selling was treated as a “technical issue” by the bank’s management, with action taken only eight years later, long after regulators in Dubai and India had flagged the matter.
In his resignation letter, Chakraborty also cited values and ethics among the factors that influenced his decision to step down a year before the end of his term.
HDFC Bank share price trend
HDFC Bank shares were trading with a 2% cut at their 52-week low level of ₹726.75 on Thursday.
In the last one month, the stock is down 17% and has underperformed the BSE Sensex, which has lost 11% during this period. So far in 2026, the bank stock is down 26% and has lost 18% in a year.
(With inputs from agencies)