Who is the new boss at HDFC Bank?

On Tuesday, the country's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank announced the appointment of Sashidhar Jagdishan as its new CEO and MD, replacing veteran Aditya Puri.

The bank is set to see a leadership change for the first time, as Puri retires after 26 years at the helm of HDFC Bank.

The bank had forwarded three names to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) -- Sashidhar Jagdishan, Kaizad Bharucha, and Sunil Garg. While Jagdishan and Bharucha are internal candidates, Garg is head of Citibank’s global commercial banking business since 2011. Jagdishan pipped the other two to take the top slot.

During the recently concluded earnings call, Puri had already indicated that the bank’s successor would be from within and that the lender has told about its preferred candidates to the regulator. "There has been a lot of talk about successor not being with us for a long time. Our potential successor has been with us for 25 years. My successor was always in place, at least in my mind," he said.

Sashidhar Jagdishan, who is called as Sashi by his colleagues, joined the bank in the year 1996 as a Manager in the Finance function. He became Business Head of Finance in 1999 and was appointed as Chief Financial Officer in the year 2008. He has played a critical role in supporting the growth trajectory of the bank. He has led the finance function and played a pivotal role in aligning the organisation in achieving the strategic objectives over the years.

He heads the functions of Finance, Human Resources, Legal & Secretarial, Administration, Infrastructure, Corporate Communications, and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Sashi has an overall experience of 29 years. He has completed his graduation in Science with a specialization in Physics, a Chartered Accountant by profession, and also holds a Master’s degree in Economics of Money, Banking & Finance.