Deepak Parekh is one of the country's most respected business honchos. He spearheaded a lending firm for over four decades and transformed it into an institution that is too big to fail. Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) is now the biggest private sector bank in India. However, when it was founded in 1977 by Parekh's uncle, HT Parekh, it was just a small lending firm. Deepak Parekh joined the company at the instance of his uncle who considered him his son. He joined as an employee, worked in the firm as an entrepreneur and retired only when the company had transformed into a Rs 5 lakh crore behemoth.
Deepak Parekh did his schooling from St. Xavier's High School, Mumbai. He later did his B.Com from Sydenham College, University of Mumbai. He left for English in 1965 and qualified as a chartered accountant there. He worked at Whinney, Smith and Whinney in London. The company came to be known as Ernst & Young later. He also cleared the Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB).
He had a successful corporate career. After E-Y, he worked with the Grindlays Bank, and Chase Manhattan Bank. He joined HDFC in 1978. He has been a member of several industry bodies, industry boards and government panels.
One of the most notable things about Parekh is that he owned only 0.04 percent stake in the company founded by his family. In an interview with BQ prime in 2022, he said he always worked with the mindset of a salaried person even though he worked like an entrepreneur would. He said even his uncle worked on a salary and rented a house.
His shareholdings amounted to Rs 155 crore in 2022. Asked if he regrets not increasing his shareholdings, he replied in the negative to the interviewer.
He said he had joined the business as his uncle wanted him to support him in Mumbai. The uncle didn't have children and considered him his own. He felt a family obligation and answered his uncle's call.
When Parekh joined, HDFC was a startup set up by his uncle who was 65 at the time. When Parekh joined, he was 33 years old and was looking at a bright and lucrative career. Had his uncle not convinced him, he would have a banker abroad like most of his friends.
He joined because he wanted Indians to have the luxury to buy a house early in their lives. Earlier, it was the norm to save up money for a house the entire life and build a house after retirement.
He joined his uncle at a salary that was 50 percent lower than his current job at the time.
He expanded the lending business and even spearheaded the push to get a banking licence when the HDFC board was, ironically, not on board. He was aided in this herculean task by Aditya Puri, who remained the company's MD till 2020. He credited Parekh for giving him a free hand to run the business.
His efforts eventually bore fruit. The bank has a customer base of 6.8 crore, across 3000 cities and towns and with over 6300 branches. By December 2021, the bank had assets worth Rs 19 lakh crore.
In 2021, his family bought a sea-view house in Mumbai's Worli. The price of the property at the time was Rs 50 crore. The house's area was 7,450 sq ft. He paid Rs 1.50 crore for the house booked in his wife's name.
