Former HDFC Bank MD Aditya Puri joins Strides Group

Former HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri has joined global pharma major Strides Group as an advisor and will also serve as a director of its associate company Stelis Biopharma.

"Eminent corporate doyen Aditya Puri joins the Strides Group as an advisor and also will be a director of its associate company, Stelis Biopharma," Strides Pharma Science Ltd said in a regulatory filing.

Strides Pharma Science said that Puri's appointment to the Stelis board comes at an exciting juncture for the company as it transitions from its incubation phase to a consolidation and growth phase to establish itself as a partner of choice globally with the aim of bringing world-class treatments at affordable costs to patients in both emerging and developed markets.

On his appointment, Puri said the Stride Group's established parentage, global success, and headstart in terms of basic infrastructure gives him the opportunity to be involved in and guide Stelis and other Group endeavours in their exciting growth story.

Arun Kumar, Founder, and Chairman of the Board of Strides said, “I am delighted to welcome Aditya as our advisor and to the Stelis board. This a huge vote of confidence in the potential of Stelis. Aditya's illustrious legacy is well-known. Having nurtured HDFC Bank since its inception, his deep experience will be extremely valuable for the Strides Group and Stelis in particular.

"With Stelis poised for its next leg of growth, this is the right time to expand the board and ensure robust guidance and governance by the best possible industry minds. I look forward to working with Aditya and leveraging his expertise to take Stelis to new heights".

Puri, who led HDFC Bank since its inception over 25 years ago, retired in October 2020, after a highly successful career that has made the bank the largest among private-sector lenders.

While heading a foreign bank's operations in Malaysia in the early 1990s, Puri got an offer from Deepak Parekh of mortgage major HDFC to come back to India to start a bank in an economy which had shifted gears with liberalisation moves.

In November 2020, Puri was roped in by US-based global investment firm Carlyle Group as a senior advisor.