When Parekh Declined ICICI Bank's HDFC Takeover Bid

In a rare public disclosure, Deepak Parekh, the noted banker who was instrumental in building India's largest private sector bank, has disclosed that ICICI Bank had once proposed to merge HDFC Ltd with them.

- BENN KOCHUVEEDAN @ Mumbai

The proposal came when Chanda Kochhar was helming ICICI Bank, Parekh said in a conversation with her on YouTube, without disclosing the date of the proposal. After completing the $60 billion reverse merger of HDFC Ltd with the bank effective July 1, 2023, Parekh had hung up boots as chairman of the country's first pureplay mortgage lender launched by uncle HT Parekh.