Building On Growth 2.0

HDFC Bank refused to compromise on profitability and tapped semi-urban and rural markets to emerge far ahead of rivals

- ANAND ADHIKARI

SASHI JAGDISHAN, MD & CEO, HDFC BANK

₹8.96 lakh crore

The bank's current market cap, next only to RIL and TCS

Fifty five-year-old Sashi Jagdishan is not the one to go with the usual flow. He had keen interest in medicine, but ended up studying physics to make a career in electronics. And when his father's close friend, a finance director in a multinational company, advised young Jagdishan about the great opportunity in the field of finance, the latter picked up chartered accountancy. But instead of joining any of the Big Four or making a career in auditing or taxation, he joined Deutsche Bank. Within three years, Jagdishan sacrificed all the perks of the MNC job to join HDFC Bank, then a start-up bank, in a public sector-dominated banking industry. “What, you are joining a government bank?”, was his wife’s response. The rest, as they say, is history.