I first got to know Aditya Puri around 1989, when I joined Citibank at the bottom of the ladder. Aditya was at the top, heading Corporate Banking for India. He always impressed me with his easy style and ability to get on well with people, and the fact that, when he was a junior, he did not hang around the office waiting for his boss to leave. Aditya then moved to Malaysia and I moved to HSBC.
I soon realised that I had had enough of multinationals. I was looking for a local company to join and in the early 90s, Indian companies that were professional did not pay a decent wage and those that paid a decent wage were not professional. Then came the defining moment: a call from Bharat Shah, a former colleague at Citi who was with UBS in Singapore at that time. “We are starting a bank. Are you interested?” Talk about an offer I could not refuse.
I was so excited to be a part of this story that I did not even negotiate my salary. It was the excitement of starting an Indian bank (remember, this was 1994, before words like ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘start-up’ were common) with Aditya Puri and some super colleagues that was exciting. Of course, I had to first discuss this with Fiona, my wife, who encouraged me to give up the security of a foreign bank. My appointment letter came from “HDFC Bank (Proposed)” because there was no company or licence at that stage.
Deepak Parekh, the chairman of the HDFC Group, met Fiona at a party shortly after I had signed up and asked her if she was still talking to me. He told her that when he quit his foreign banking job to join HDFC, both his mother and wife did not talk to him for a while. Fiona, being as risk taking as I am and my partner in my crazy career moves, told Deepak that this was not a problem at all.
Today, it seems like a no-brainer, but in 1994, it was difficult to get seasoned bankers to join us. The risks were too high. My first days at the bank involved picking up the newspapers and opening the door, after I had bought a couple of vada pavs from the legendary guy outside Ramon House. I then learned PowerPoint and prepared the first bank presentation. We were so hi-tech those days! The LAN at Sandoz House was a set of wires taped to the floor connecting old computers on rented desks. If someone tripped over a wire, the system crashed.
We then moved to my third office at HDFC Bank at Kamala Mills, where I ran my first training session in the open under a tree, because we had no conference room. We managed to move back to Sandoz House (the fourth move in less than 6 months), in time for the grand opening by Manmohan Singh. Those early days were great. I would take our daughter to the bank on Saturdays—the fourth chapter of Tamal Bandyopadhyay’s book was titled, “There’s a Baby on the Trading Floor”; he was writing about Mihika, our daughter.
Enough has been written and said about Aditya Puri’s leadership style over the years, and the latest one was written beautifully by Aseem Dhru. I left the bank in 2000, so my leadership lessons from Aditya relate to the early 'start-up' days. These were the Ten Commandments that I took away from the King of Banking:
I'd like to thank Aditya for building a fabulous bank that we are all proud to be associated with, and wish him all the best for his next chapter. All the best to Sashi too, as he takes the bank to its next level.
Luis Miranda is the co-founder & chairman of the Indian School of Public Policy, and was part of the founding team at HDFC Bank
The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.
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Well narrated Luis... Kudos to that...
on Nov 6, 2020Free management and leadership lessons!!Wow!
on Nov 2, 2020The article is brilliant - simple words, profound learnings. All respect for Mr Puri and his A team for building a bank that we are all proud of.
on Oct 29, 2020Luis some of the observation are hallmark of Mr Puri\'s style and a defacto market standards that others to match
on Oct 28, 2020Such a fine tribute to a true leader! I’m honored to have gotten to know him personally.
on Oct 27, 2020Food for thought!! Tremendous Inputs! What a Journey......🌹
on Oct 27, 2020Super write up Luis
on Oct 27, 2020