MUMBAI
:
The chief human resources officer of India’s largest private sector lender is leaving after nearly seven years at the bank, according to three people aware of the development.
Vinay Razdan, group head of human resources and chief human resources officer, has been with HDFC Bank since September 2018. An alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur, Razdan is close to retirement, and his resignation has nevertheless come as a surprise, said the people cited above. According to one of the people, the bank is looking at candidates to head the HR division, including profiles from Razdan’s core team at HDFC Bank.
“One of his deputies could be in the race,” said a person aware of the discussions. “That said, the bank will also look at external candidates.”
“We do not comment on speculation and request the publication to avoid speculative commentary,” a spokesperson for the bank said in an emailed response. A text message and a phone call to Razdan remained unanswered.
Before working with the bank, he headed the human resources operations for Idea Cellular for 12 years and eight months. He was one of the key senior executives who sewed up the merger with Vodafone India to form Vi. According to his profile on the social media platform LinkedIn, Razdan, a Delhi University graduate, worked with HCL Technologies for six years and ITC Ltd for 12 years.
Slower churn, but attrition persists
HDFC Bank employed 210,219 people as of December end, compared to 208,066 in December 2023.
Experts said that HDFC Bank, like its rivals, will look at ways to stabilize attrition and push for productivity without hiring in large numbers. In fact, during an earnings call in January, Srinivasan Vaidyanathan—the chief financial officer—had responded to a query about employee headcount going ahead.
“If you look at a 6-month or a 9-month period or even a 12-month period, it is just 2,000 from last December to December. So, we held down…the reason is that we have ramped up some investments in people and maintained at that level…we are working through various productivity models to enhance the value,” Vaidyanathan had said.
Attrition has been a pain point for private sector banks, although it has declined since FY24. HDFC Bank saw an attrition rate of 34.15% in FY23, which dropped to 26.9% in FY24. Mint reported on 9 April that top private sector banks expect the trend of slowing attrition from FY24 to spill over to the just-concluded fiscal (FY25). This could also mean slower hiring in the current financial year as fewer fresh positions open for new talent.
In 2022, Razdan told Mint that the bank took many steps to arrest attrition and that a large organisation with many foot soldiers would inevitably have attrition. To combat attrition, HDFC Bank crafted a benefits programme for its frontline and sales executives and has created a grade within sales officers to augment career progression.
