Moving to a Higher Orbit for HDFC Bank
The bank has always been in a class of its own, but the merger with HDFC and a revamped microservices tech stack will launch it into a new orbit.
To progress from good to great, one must overcome the curse of competence. It takes discipline to say,Just because we’re good at it just because we’re making money and growing doesn’t mean we can become the best. The good-to-great companies understood that doing what you are good at will only make you good; the only way to greatness is to focus solely on what you can potentially do better than any other organization.
In his book, Good to Great, author and leadership expert Jim Collins encapsulates the making of a great company. Though the book was published 21 years ago, its lessons are timeless. Especially in light of the winner of Fortune India-Grant Thornton Bharat’s inaugural annual study of India’s Best Banks for 2022.
HDFC Bank does not require an introduction.
The 27-year-old is the country’s largest private sector lender in terms of assets (20.68 lakh crore) and the largest bank in India in terms of market capitalization (7.45 lakh crore). But, as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so. What is suitable for one person may be great for another.
As a domestically systemically important bank, an entity is subject to higher capital requirements and stringent regulation. So call it a stroke of luck that the bank did not face regulatory scrutiny during Aditya Puri’s tenure as CEO. But, in the run-up to his retirement in October 2020. A series of hiccups including a mobile app crash in November 2018. A firewall security issue in December 2019, and a data center power outage in November 2020 — meant the new CEO had his hands full.
