Deepak Parekh, the energetic chairman of HDFC Ltd and the man who led the retail lending revolution in India, will step down once the merger of HDFC Ltd with HDFC Bank is completed.

 Keki Mistry, the vice chairman of the HDFC Ltd, will also step down, but he may be on the board of the merged entity helping it to take off to the next stage of growth.

 “This (merger) process will take anywhere between 12 and 18 months because of the numerous approvals we need,” Parekh, who took charge of HDFC from his uncle HT Parekh, said.

“Also, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules do not allow anyone above 75 to be on the board of a bank and I have already crossed that age; so, there is no way I can be on the board of the bank,” said the 77-year-old  Parekh who joined HDFC as a 33-year-old in 1978.

Regulatory norms don’t enable any government to proceed on a financial institution’s board past 75 years. The regulator additionally capped the age of MD and CEO of a financial institution at 70 years.

“It is like the son taking over from the father,” Parekh told reporters in a quickly convened press conference. “We will all be taken care of; you don’t think we will be thrown out. It’s a merger of equals and it’s a friendly merger; it’s not at all hostile and we are one.”

“As Mr (Atanu) Chakraborty said, as the son grows older, he acquires the father’s business, so that’s all this is,” Parekh added.

“I’m 67-and-a-half, and this merger will most likely take one year-and-a-half. By that point, I might be 69, and the retirement age for individuals in a financial institution is 70,” Mistry stated.

Mistry, who joined HDFC in 1981, has been spearheading the mortgage lender for more than 20 years.

Parekh said that whereas Mistry didn’t need to take up a government function, he could oversee some mortgage features after the merger.

“He will not be a full-time executive; he doesn’t want to be a full-time executive – not that we don’t want him,” Parekh stated. “But he can be a director on the board and handle the mortgage functions, investor relations – whatever Sashi wants to do with Keki. We will leave it to them.”

In October 2020, Sashidhar Jagdishan replaced Aditya Puri as managing director and CEO of HDFC Bank.