HDFC Bank on Saturday said that its Chief Executive Sashidhar Jagdishan has decided not to seek reappointment when his term ends at the end of October. Jagdishan’s tenure as managing director and CEO ends on Oct. 26.
With this, HDFC Bank becomes the latest private-sector lender to witness a leadership change. In June, Kotak Mahindra Bank chief executive Ashok Vaswani decided to step down at the end of his current term on 31 December 2026. Mint reported on 27 June that over the past two years, five other private-sector banks—Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bandhan Bank, Karnataka Bank and City Union Bank—have seen leadership changes
Jagdishan, 61, joined the bank in 1996 as a manager in the finance division, and went on to become the finance head in 1999. Subsequently, he was appointed as the chief financial officer of HDFC Bank in 2008.
With just two months remaining for his tenure to end, there was growing uncertainty whether Jagdishan would get a third term. While there were expectations of a shorter extension than the usual three-year term, the stepping down seems like an unlikely outcome.
Suresh Ganapathy, managing director and head of financial services research at Macquarie Capital had said on 27 August that there are two main options now, considering the paucity of time.
“Either the MD & CEO gets a tenure extension of say around six months or a full 3-year tenure. In the case of the former, we believe, the messaging here is that the board is looking for candidates apart from the current CEO and wants time from RBI to recommend a new list,” said Ganapathy.
Bank boards typically approve CEO reappointments and seek approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about six months in advance. For instance, in January, rival lender ICICI Bank’s board had approved the reappointment of Sandeep Bakhshi as the chief executive by another two years. Bakshi’s current term ends in October and the RBI approved his reappointment in May. Meanwhile, HDFC Bank board had approved Jagdishan’s current term in March 2023, a good seven months before the deadline.