HDFC Bank Limited backed a second board term for independent director Lily Vadera as Deputy Managing Director Kaizad Bharucha asked to leave on Dec. 31, after the scheduled Oct. 27 CEO change.
The board approved a proposed three-year term for Vadera on Oct. 17, running from Nov. 26, 2026, through Nov. 25, 2029. HDFC Bank said it would seek shareholder approval but gave no date for a vote.
Bharucha asked to leave at the close of business on Dec. 31. The board accepted his request and said it would forward it to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for approval.
Vadera’s first term as an independent director began Nov. 26, 2021, and lasts five years. Shareholders approved that appointment in March 2022. The proposed three-year term would begin after her current term ends.
Before joining the board, Vadera spent more than 34 years in central banking. She retired as an RBI executive director in October 2020 after overseeing its Department of Regulation, whose remit included banks and non-banking finance companies. HDFC Bank credits her with work on the RBI’s financial technology regulatory sandbox, mergers involving stressed banks and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ Insolvency Law Committee.
Vadera chairs HDFC Bank’s Risk Policy and Monitoring Committee and serves on its Audit Committee. Bharucha has been associated with the bank for more than three decades; the board credited him with helping develop its credit framework.
A separate leadership change is scheduled sooner. The RBI has approved incoming managing director and CEO Anup Bagchi’s appointment, which also requires shareholder approval. Bagchi is due to succeed current managing director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan on Oct. 27.
