Institutions that command exceptional trust must accept exceptional scrutiny. HDFC Bank, long regarded as the gold standard of Indian banking for its professional management, risk discipline and governance standards, carries an even higher burden: having set the benchmark, it must keep raising it. For a bank entrusted with other people's money, even the whiff of misconduct matters.
Questions have been accumulating across different fronts: the earlier GPS-linked auto-loan mis-selling, alleged AT1 bond mis-selling involving its Dubai and Bahrain operations, concerns over legacy asset quality following the HDFC Ltd merger, recent Carlisle fund mis-selling allegations, workplace-culture concerns, the Lilavati Trust controversy, the former chairman's resignation citing values and ethics, and the MSRDC deposit episode. These matters do not carry the same evidentiary status. Some are allegations, some are disputed, and some have been reviewed and closed.
