Every institution has an origin story, but few begin with an 8-year-old picking up a phone. That’s exactly how HDFC Bank’s founding tale opens – a February 1994 call to a Citibank CEO’s home in Malaysia, placed by a man named Parekh, that would eventually reshape Indian banking.
The roots go back further, to 1977, when Hasmukhbhai Parekh’s mortgage venture, HDFC Ltd., struggled for nearly a decade to earn depositors’ trust, surviving largely on bulk deposits from unlikely sources like Assam’s tea companies.
The real turning point came when Deepak Parekh flew to Kuala Lumpur to convince Aditya Puri – then heading Citibank Malaysia on a six-figure salary – to return to India and build something new. Puri’s only condition was full autonomy. He said yes within a day, took a steep pay cut, and assembled a founding team more interested in building a lasting institution than chasing quick money.
Even the bank’s name was contested, with options like “Everest Bank” and “Bombay International Bank” on the table before Puri drew a line: HDFC Bank, or nothing.
From there, the bank grew through retail lending, early digital adoption, and a 2023 merger with its parent that created India’s largest financial services entity by scale.
Today, that same institution – once focused on earning trust – is using storytelling again, this time to fight fraud, with campaigns like Vigil Aunty and “Laziness Saves” reaching audiences through comedy and everyday humour.
Sometimes the biggest institutions have the smallest, most human beginnings.
