Chapter 3: leaders are never good or bad. It is the results they generate which are. Deepak Parekh became Chairman of HDFC in 1993 as an inheritor of HT Parekh who did not have any children. HT Parekh himself was niether the promoter nor the CEO of HDFC.
He is just a titular Chairman who refused to leave.
In 1994, he passed on taking nothing with him. His inheritor destroyed the legal entity HDFC Ltd by forcing its acquisition by HDFC Bank. It is the only large case I know of in Indian corporate history where a subsidiary acquired its parent company.
But let’s go back to 1993.
The Economic situation of India was bad. DFIs were insisting on implementation of their standard playbook – defang the public sector, open up markets to foreign companies, sell your Crown Jewels etc. I got to work directly with Dr Manmohan Singh on liberalisation strategy. More as a typist or excel operator than as a strategist. I was then naive enough to think that the Congress was good for the country, was nationalist and was well meaning. I now realise on looking back – that none of these were true. All regimes have a certain degree of corruption – else how do political parties survive. But not all will sell their motherland.
When something valuable is for sale. There will be buyers. One such buyer was Citibank. And what they were looking for is a credible brand willing to prostitute itself. By 1993, Deepak had acquired absolute control. Painful Board members like Mr Simha had bee dispensed with.
It looked like all smart cons do – that there was nothing to lose in being a proxy for a foreign bank to get a license. A lot of people think that way. Especially those who have failed to compete in India – and taken refuge in a easily available foreign education. And when they fail to build a career of any relevance, they look for ways to come back. “I had to look after family” to “I wanted to give back to my country” are the common justifications. I don’t know if this was the case with Deepak. But it is unlikely that it was not. He had niether topped the CA nor been to Harvard like Pradeep Shah had been. HT Parekh had played every political trick he learned to get his inheritor into HDFC. And it hadn’t been easy. Deepak had zero professional respect within HDFC Ltd.
This was hard for Deepak. In his south Mumbai cliche he was not a business owner. So whilst he played bridge well an bunked office often – he was not “one of them”. Something he longed to be. He lived in a modest apartment in Navjivan Society on the tony Nepeansea Road. But then that was not the Raymond mansion at Breach Candy or SilverOaks Estate. The Ambani’s had moved into Seawind near Cuffe Parade. And the Piramals were still in their joint family abode in Pochkhanwala road near Worli Sea Face. Even Ashok Advani had all of Framrose Court at Marine Drive.
Poverty can be a very strong driver.
Especially if you measure impact in money.
And an ambitious wife adds to the drive.
