HDFC is a story like no other. And it started as a great one. Even now it is the largest weighted stock on Indian indices. The largest private sector holder of public deposits. 98% of which have been lent. To create a real estate bubble of unimaginable magnitude.
In more ways than one, it outshines the other successfull professionally managed, board run, promoterless companies – Tatas, L&T …. ILFS.
As the 30 episode OTT series gets ready to go on the floor – the screenplay research which has taken close to 15 years – revealed a reality which was contrary to expectation.
As an illustration – the exit of a foreign bank has no connection with the rise of HDFC share price. Unless you research SEC filings and discover that the exiting bank was at the single largest shareholder of HDFC Ltd. Here is the link:
It also means very little to the common man that the former business head of that bank – Servesh Swarup – had turned whistle blower. And is now dead. What had he whistle blown on:
And then there was a book, “If God was a Banker” which became a best seller. It was the truth sold as fiction. Just not true enough.
And then abracadabra, a finance company from Chawri Bazaar morphed into a namesake of that Bank. It was like a man dying and the beggar outside, changing his name to that of the dead man – moving into his house and collecting his debts. Then continue, as if no one had died.
It got even more interesting. A whole time salaried working executive of a foreign bank was appointed as an non-executive Director on the Main Board of SBI. Supposedly at the behest of the highest office in the banking sector.
The board meeting quickly approves an equity investment in a company being set up by the two Havala Banks. Which was this entity ? And why was it created.
And then came the “FIU” and “FIO” framework and lifetime bank statements in all the large Indian banks had become information for sale. Perfios – a unicorn few have heard of – was the key player. Alongside, CIBIL had become a foreign company – not just by ownership but also by control. What was HDFCs role here ?
It is a story like no other. It is the viewer who is the jury. Genius or Genocide – It is for the viewer to decide.
The first six chapter heads are listed below. It is never to late to add to facts. Any information – backed by documentation and recieved from an authenticated source would be added to the research material. The idea is not to sensationalise but to present the facts.
HDFC is a systemically important financial institution. Whilst its ownership is camouflaged but foreign – its impact and fund source is Indian. The bank holds savings of millions. Any run on such a bank could destabilise the entire banking sector and thus the economy.
The idea is to present the true story of HDFC – something which the sponsored books on Deepak Parekh and Aditya Puri failed to do.