The Aditya Puri masterclass on management

Anybody remotely linked with India’s company and banking sector is aware of Aditya Puri. The 70-year-old iconic banker, arguably one of many world’s greatest, not too long ago retired from HDFC Financial institution after a 26-year-long profession which noticed him construct the financial institution from scratch to creating it the nation’s most valued banking establishment.

Puri, who joined personal fairness main The Carlyle Group as senior advisor simply days after he retired from the financial institution (a sign of how wanted he could be put up retirement), has been referred to as a pacesetter who’s pushed, focussed, and somebody who is aware of the best way to get his crew to execute his imaginative and prescient.

From the time Puri was approached by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh in Kuala Lumpur (the place he was working in Citibank), to the time he hung up his boots on the financial institution, Puri has been synonymous with the successes HDFC Financial institution has seen through the years. The financial institution is valued at near ₹eight lakh crore.

In an unique, freewheeling interview with Fortune India simply days after his retirement on October 26, Puri mentioned he leaves the financial institution a particularly happy man, having constructed a world-class establishment, and having earned the respect of 120,000 colleagues.

“I’ve positioned the financial institution for the long run, and bought Sashi Jagdishan [Sashidhar Jagdishan, the new MD & CEO] who’s ingrained within the financial institution as a superb successor, tying up with him and easing him into the function… I additionally carry many fond reminiscences. Clearly, I’m not going to be sitting at house as a result of my spouse doesn’t enable that. So I’ve a number of issues within the works,” Puri mentioned.

One of many “few issues within the works”, in fact, has turned out to be the gig at Carlyle, the place he’ll assist the PE agency with new funding alternatives, and supply steerage on the evolving market panorama. And Puri is aware of a factor or two about evolving landscapes. When he returned to India from Malaysia to arrange HDFC Financial institution, the banking panorama was dominated by Indian public sector banks, and some main international banks with good expertise offering the one competitors to them. Puri mentioned his thought was to mix the most effective of the general public sector banks and the international banks in his new personal sector financial institution.

“Once we seemed on the panorama, what I noticed was the general public sector banks had the model, the distribution, and the deposits. The international banks had the product and the service and glorious expertise. I mentioned, if we are able to carry these two collectively in an establishment and in addition reap the benefits of altering telecommunications… then we should always be capable of provide you with an establishment that may be world class by way of requirements, whether or not it’s in profitability, governance, or satisfaction for workers,” Puri mentioned concerning the early days.

Puri emphasised {that a} model can’t be constructed by the CEO alone. It has to have the buy-in of workers in any respect ranges, and that’s what he sought to do at HDFC Financial institution, with all workers throughout the nation and in any respect ranges aligned to the imaginative and prescient he and the highest administration set out for the financial institution.

Talking about competitors, Puri mentioned a trusted model can stand up to competitors whether it is open to vary and that change is then overlaid by the belief which the model has loved from clients over time. If that mixture is achieved, the shoppers wouldn’t be inclined to shift from the present model to a brand new entrant.

Recognised and celebrated as an institution-builder, Puri is aware of he can be in demand from varied quarters. When requested whether or not he noticed a job for himself within the authorities, he mentioned: “Actually, it is a hypothetical query. In any case, my well being wouldn’t enable something strenuous.”

His successor Jagdishan, who’s already battling his first problem with the latest RBI motion on the financial institution for its digital outages, earns excessive reward from Puri.

When advised that Jagdishan, himself an HDFC Financial institution veteran of a number of years, is a really completely different in character from him, Puri mentioned: “There’s place for everybody. Angelina Jolie survived, and so did Shirley Maclaine! It’s important to be good at your job. Like I advised somebody the opposite day, there’s tandoori hen and there’s thayir saadam…[curd rice, a popular dish in South India]. I can inform you, don’t underestimate Sashi. There’s no want for a clone of mine to come back in. [But] in a means all 120,000 of us are clones. We consider the financial institution, we’re a relentless execution crew. When the HDFC Financial institution military goes, the tip end result can be achieved.”

“I believe Sashi is properly positioned. Simply because he’s from one a part of the nation and I’m from one other, doesn’t imply something. Is he competent to do the job? Completely!” he mentioned, including: “Folks ask, ‘however what concerning the profile?’. On that, Mr [K.V.] Kamath [former ICICI Bank CEO] as soon as put it very properly. He mentioned Mr Puri by no means sought the limelight. He bought the limelight consequent to the efficiency of HDFC Financial institution. I believe that’ll occur with Sashi additionally because the outcomes hold coming in. The media made me a hero due to the efficiency of the financial institution, and I’m certain the identical factor will occur with him.”

(The total interview with Aditya Puri seems within the December 2020 [Fortune India 500] situation of the journal, which is now on stands.)