Aditya Puri sells 74.2 lakh lakh shares worth Rs 843 crore in HDFC Bank

Aditya Puri remained the highest-paid bank chief executive in India in FY20. Puri’s FY 2019-20 salary and prerequisites saw a jump of 38 per cent to Rs 18.92 crore as compared to that of the last fiscal.

HDFC Bank chairman and MD Aditya Puri has sold over 74.2 lakh shares, 95 per cent of his stake in the bank for around Rs 842.87 crore during this week. As per the insider trading data published by the stock exchanges on Saturday, Puri has sold 74.2 lakh shares of the bank between July 21 and July 24.

Prior to the transaction, he held 0.14 per cent stake — 77.96 lakh shares in the lender– and post the sale, he holds 0.01 per cent stake, 3.76 lakh shares.

According to the latest data released by the exchanges, Puri sold most of his stake in the private lender during July 21-23. The comes at a time when Puri is set to retire from the top post of the bank in October this year after serving as the MD since its establishment in 1994. The bank’s board last year set up a 6-member search committee to identify his successor.

It is worth noting that the HDFC Bank top boss received 6.82 lakh ESOPs in FY2020. Shares of the lender rallied 46% since its yearly low of Rs 765 touched on March 24. At the end of the day’s trade on Friday, its shares were at Rs 1,118.80 on the BSE, lower by Rs 11.90 or 1.05 per cent from the previous close.

Puri remained the highest-paid bank chief executive in India in FY20. Puri’s FY 2019-20 salary and prerequisites saw a jump of 38 per cent to Rs 18.92 crore as compared to that of the last fiscal. It may be noted that Puri has led HDFC bank since its inception 25 years ago. 

In the FY21 Annual General Meeting earlier this month, Puri hinted at his successor. He said, “Our potential successor has been with us for 25 years, my successor was always in place at least in my mind. It is now for RBI to decide what was been given to them”.

It is no doubt that the private lender has had a brilliant run over the last decade under the leadership of Puri and news of his retirement has raised concerns as to whether the new leadership can effectively carry on his legacy. Given the kind of value HDFC Bank has created for shareholders in recent years, investors on the street are justified in their concern but the fact the new candidate has been internally groomed within the walls of the franchise should alleviate concerns to a large degree.