Bagchi is a veteran of the ICICI Group and was most recently the MD and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
Interacting with the media for the first time, since being appointed the MD and CEO of HDFC Bank, Bagchi said he was grateful to the board for trusting him for the top job and noted that the leadership team had built a strong foundation for the bank.
Leading the bank through the 2020 pandemic, completing the landmark merger between HDFC Bank and HDFC, scaling the branch network and strengthening the core technology capabilities, “it takes quite a work to get it done in six years,” he said.
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“Very near term I am going to engage with all the regulators, customers, stakeholders and gather insights, and that will become a key input to our operational priorities,” Bagchi outlined.
HDFC Bank is set for a complete makeover in the top management in coming months. On October 17, the lender in a disclosure to the stock exchanges informed that its deputy MD Kaizad Bharucha announced his intention to step down effective December 31, 2026.
Bharucha had been with the bank for over three decades and is the longest serving executive board member, having joined the board in 2014. He was one of the two candidates whose names had been submitted by HDFC Bank to the Reserve Bank of India for the post of MD and CEO.
A key challenge in Bharucha’s appointment was that RBI has capped the tenure of whole-time directors in private banks at 15 years, which he will reach in 2029.
Apart from Jagdishan and Bharucha, CFO Srinivasan Vaidyanathan’s term is also coming to an end. The lender has already appointed former Axis Bank CFO Puneet Sharma as his replacement effective December 1, 2026.
Jagdishan though stressed that the bank had been driven more by “processes” and not by an “individual personality.” He also noted that the management depth at the lender was very strong for Bagchi to come in and lead.
“The depth in management is so large that the continuity and the ethos of the institution will be intact as well. So, Anup comes in and he will lead a team of able leaders who have been with the institution for a long time. And they will be the fulcrum and the fact of the matter is enable support to Anup to chart out his vision and his strategy as well,” said Jagdishan.
Why did Jagdishan himself decide to step down? He said it was a personal call and there were no regrets.
“Sometime after 31 years, one needs to also start to look at life outside of institutions that you have nurtured, you have grown with. I leave it with a lot of pride and satisfaction to this institution, which will rock,” he said.
While, Bagchi is no stranger to the banking space, having served as executive director of ICICI Bank from 2017 to 2023, he will have a lot of tasks at hand at HDFC Bank. The lender has faced slew of problems related to governance, values and mis-selling of products. The stock too has underperformed significantly in the backdrop of the negative news flow and broader equity market volatility.
HDFC Bank’s shares are down 26% year-to-date on the NSE. In contrast, private sector rival ICICI Bank shares have gained 4% in the same period.
There are other issues that will also need addressing. For instance, analysts have raised concerns related to CASA (current account and savings account) mobilisation. The CASA ratio has come under pressure following the merger of HDFC and HDFC Bank.
Mortgage lender HDFC had completed a merger with HDFC Bank in 2023. Bagchi said that much of the balance sheet transformation was behind, but some more work was needed to be done.
Analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services had said recently, that Bagchi’s diverse set of expertise would aid HDFC Group in the next phase of growth.
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“Bagchi’s three decades of experience across retail and wholesale banking, digital financial services, capital markets, wealth management and insurance will enable him to lead India’s largest private bank with leadership across BFSI segments. His track record at ICICI Bank demonstrates his capabilities in building retail businesses while maintaining credit and cost discipline,” the analysts had said.
HDFC Bank today reported a 4.7% rise in its net profit for the July-September quarter at Rs 19,510 crore. Its net interest income rose 9.7% to Rs 34,620 crore.
Jagdishan noted that there was fair amount of business momentum and metrics in various segments, especially in retail and MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises), were moving in the right direction.