Man who once lived in Mumbai chawl, built Rs 1224350 crore company, no relation with Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani

Born on March 10, 1911, Hasmukh Thakordas Parekh was as entrepreneur who founded HDFC and his story is very inspiring because he once used to live in a chawl in Mumbai. HT Parekh was awarded the Padma Bhushan 1992 for his outstanding contribution to Indian finance industry. Notably, Reliance Group founder Dhirubhai Ambani also once used to live in a chawl. Mukesh Ambani and his brother Anil Ambani also once used to live in one room.

HT Parekh was originally from Surat and he belonged to a banking family. He graduated from Mumbai in economics and went to the UK to earn a BSc degree in Banking and Finance from London School of Economics, one of the best institutes to study business and finance in the world.

After returning from LSE, Hasmukh Parekh started working as a lecturer at Mumbai’s St Xavier's College. HT Parekh then joined stock broking firm Harkisandass Lakhmidass. After spending few years at the stocking firm, HT Parekh joined ICICI, where he retired after 16 years after becoming Managing Director.

At 66, HT Parekh came up with an idea of financing the home dreams of millions of Indians and finally founded HDFC in 1977. In 1978, HDFC, disbursed its first home loan and by 1984, HDFC was approving annual loans in excess of Rs 100 crore. Now, HDFC and HDFC Bank are one entity and the combined worth of these two firms is Rs 12,24,350 crore.

HT Parekh passed away November 18, 1994. HT Parekh was uncle of legendary Indian banker Deepak Parekh and he used to consider Deepak Parekh as his ‘son’.