Deepak Parekh: A Pioneer in Banking and Investment

Indian businessman Deepak Parekh was born on October 18, 1944, and he was the previous chairman of Housing Development Financing Corporation, the country’s top private development financing organisation for housing. Its headquarters are in Mumbai.

Education

After completing his education at St. Xavier’s High School in Fort, Parekh went on to get a B.Com. from Sydenham College, which is connected to the University of Mumbai. To become a chartered accountant with the ICAEW, he travelled to England in 1965. He finished his articles with Whinney, Smith and Whinney (after known as Ernst & Young) in London.

Additionally, he passed the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance’s Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB) exam. After passing his CA examinations on his first try, he was sent to Ernst & Ernst, the firm’s consulting division in New York.

Career

Parekh has served as the assistant representative for South Asia at Ernst & Young, Grindlays Bank, and Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1978, he began working for the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC). Hasmukhbhai Parekh, his uncle, created HDFC. In 1997, Parekh also was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd (IDFC), a speciality infrastructure finance organisation. Along with serving on the boards of Castrol India Limited, Fairfax India Holdings Corporation, Siemens Ltd., Mahindra & Mahindra, Indian Hotels Company, and SingTel, he is also the non-executive chairman of Glaxo India Ltd. and Burroughs Wellcome (India) Ltd. Parekh serves on the advisory boards of Tribeca Developers, AECOM, a major US engineering consultancy, and AIESEC India.

Parekh has served on several committees that the Indian government has established. In 1964, he was named Chairman of the high-level expert committee that was established to suggest ways to improve the Unit Scheme. He was named Chairman of the Advisory Group for Securities Market Regulation by the Reserve Bank of India, whose job it was to assess how closely India adhered to international standards in comparison to other nations. In addition, he served as the chairman of the Expert Committee that the Ministry of Power established to examine the power industry’s reform initiatives.

Awards and honors

Deepak Parekh has received multiple honours, such as the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award from the All India Management Association (AIMA) and Businessman of the Year 1996 from Business India. He was the youngest recipient of the Economic Times’ Corporate Award for Lifetime Achievement and the first recipient of the Qimpro Platinum Award for Quality for his services industry accomplishments. The Indian government awarded him the Padma Bhushan. For his many years of service to the accounting and finance industry, he was the first foreigner to receive the Outstanding Achievement Award from The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 2010. He was chosen to advise Sunil Gavaskar, the IPL’s acting chairman. Parekh is also on the advisory of IIMUN.

Deepak Parekh

Padma Bhushan, Chairman HDFC Ltd. and HDFC Group Companies

Millions of people nationwide now have the opportunity to own a home thanks to Deepak Parekh’s leadership of HDFC Ltd., India’s leading housing finance organisation. In addition to making HDFC the market leader in mortgages, his brilliant business sense and foresight have turned the company into one of India’s largest financial services conglomerates, with operations in banking, asset management, life and general insurance, real estate venture capital, education loans, and education. The majority of the HDFC Group companies are chaired by Deepak Parekh.

He serves on the boards of numerous prestigious companies in a variety of industries. He serves as Siemens Ltd.’s non-executive chairman in India. In addition, he serves on the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) board of directors. Parekh serves on the international boards of Fairfax Financial Holdings Corporation in Canada and DP World in the United Arab Emirates.

He is on the Indian advisory board of Accenture and the international advisory boards of Investcorp International Ltd and Warburg Pincus LLC.

Mr Parekh serves as an advisor to several international groups, including the India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP), the Indo-US CEO Forum, the City of London Finance Committee, and the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC). In 2017, the Mayor of London appointed Deepak Parekh as the first member of a global network of ambassadors to promote London internationally.

In addition to his well-known advocacy for uniformity and openness in the real estate industry, Mr. Parekh was instrumental in reviving the company in 2009 as Special Director on the Satyam Board and in resolving investor concerns during UTI’s restructuring in the late 1990s. To create reform strategies that span sectors, Mr. Parekh has always been eager to share his thoughts and expertise. Mr. Parekh has served on several influential Task Forces, Advisory Committees, and Economic Groups on capital markets, housing, financial services, and infrastructure.

Mr. Parekh is a man on a mission, and his views on CSR are straightforward yet profound. He thinks that businesses have a duty to all of its stakeholders, not just shareholders, and that if they make money, they should also give back to the community.

Mr. Parekh has received multiple honours from the government and industry, which were astonished by his performance and sobriety. The Padma Bhushan in 2006, the German Federal Republic’s “Bundesverdienstkreuz” Cross of the Order of Merit, one of the highest honours bestowed by the Federal Republic of Germany in 2014, and the French Republic’s “Knight in the Order of the Legion of Honour,” one of the highest honours bestowed by the French Republic in 2010, and the first foreign recipient of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ Outstanding Achievement Award in 2010 are among the most significant.