Aditya Puri, who was the chief executive and managing director of the HDFC Bank for over 25 years, retired on Monday and gave the charge of the largest private sector lender to Sashidhar Jagdishan.
On his last day in the office, Puri reminisced about the journey of building the bank which focused on the centrality of the employees. On the other hand, Jagdishan affirmed to carry his legacy forward and thanked his boss.
Farewell celebrations have been on for the last 25 days at the bank, which reached a crescendo on Saturday with a specially-produced 90-minute virtual event.
The event, which was watched by over a lakh employees, had Puri, senior leadership, current employees and former officials of the bank speaking, reports said.
On the occasion, singer Shankar Mahadevan entertained the attendees as he sang Puri’s favourite old Bollywood numbers.
Bank House, the corporate headquarters, was lit up over the weekend, with one facade sporting a huge picture of Puri with a message thanking him for his service.
Earlier in the day, in an unusual move, rival ICICI Bank publicly thanked Puri for being an inspiration and for his contributions to Indian banking.
“#ICICIBank thanks you, Mr Aditya Puri, for your contribution to the Indian banking industry. Throughout your illustrious career spanning decades, you have been an inspiration to many. We wish you the very best for your future endeavours,” the private lender tweeted.
Late in the evening on Monday, HDFC Bank informed the exchanges about the completion of Puri’s tenure and handover of reins to Jagdishan, as per the mandatory disclosure requirements.