HDFC Bank, Citi switch corp lending heads

Mumbai: In an executive switch operation, HDFC Bank and Citi have exchanged their corporate banking heads. While the private lender recently appointed Rahul Shukla, former corporate banking head at Citi, the foreign bank had a couple of months earlier hired HDFC Bank’s corporate banking head, K Balasubramanian.

Incidentally, Balasubramanian was returning to his former employer where he had spent about two decades. Shukla had been heading Citi’s corporate banking in India since July 2010 after serving as Citigroup’s head of Asia-Pacific investment banking for technology, media and telecommunications based in Hong Kong. According to sources, Shukla will report to Kaizad Bharucha, deputy MD and ED, HDFC Bank.

Representatives of HDFC Bank did not comment while Citibank spokesperson could not be reached. The move happens at a time when HDFC Bank plans to accelerate its corporate loan growth. HDFC Bank, which is set to raise Rs 24,000 crore of fresh equity, is aiming to grow at double digits and increase the share of its corporate loans in its portfolio. At a time when public sector banks are short of capital and struggling with bad loans, the lender sees itself well placed to gain market share.

HDFC Bank