HDFC Bank has nominated former Union finance secretary and former chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar as its next part-time non-executive chairman, bringing in a veteran policymaker to head the bank's board after months of uncertainty following the resignation of Atanu Chakraborty.
The appointment, announced on Monday, is subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Kumar has been proposed for a three-year term as chairman and has also been appointed as an additional independent director for four years, subject to shareholders' approval.
Kumar's tenure as Chief Election Commissioner had attracted criticism from Opposition parties, which questioned the Election Commission's neutrality during the 2024 Lok Sabha election and raised concerns over delays in publishing final voter turnout figures.
He will succeed interim chairman Keki M. Mistry, who has been leading the board since March after Chakraborty's unexpected exit.
HDFC Bank has been searching for a permanent chairman since Atanu Chakraborty resigned in March, citing concerns that certain developments and practices within the bank were inconsistent with his personal values and ethics.
As a part-time non-executive chairman, Kumar will provide strategic guidance to the board and oversee governance while remaining independent of the bank's day-to-day operations.
A 1984-batch IAS officer of the erstwhile Bihar cadre, Kumar has spent nearly four decades in public administration, with extensive experience in finance, banking and public policy.
He retired as finance secretary in February 2020 after serving as secretary in the department of financial services from 2017 to 2020.
During this period, India's public sector banking system was grappling with high levels of stressed assets and weak balance sheets. Kumar oversaw the government's banking sector clean-up programme, widely known as the '4R' strategy — recognition, resolution, recapitalisation and reforms.
The initiative focused on recognising stressed assets transparently, accelerating resolutions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, infusing fresh capital into banks and strengthening governance standards.
His tenure also coincided with one of the largest recapitalisation programmes undertaken by the government, involving capital infusion of more than ₹3 lakh-crore into public sector banks.
The government also consolidated 27 state-owned banks into 12 larger institutions to improve efficiency, scale and competitiveness.
He has previously served on the Central Board of the RBI as well as the boards of the State Bank of India and NABARD.
Kumar joined the Election Commission as Election Commissioner in September 2020 and became India's 25th Chief Election Commissioner in May 2022.
During his tenure, the Commission conducted the 2022 Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections, several state Assembly elections, the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly election.
The 2024 Lok Sabha election involved nearly 969 million registered voters, with around 642 million casting their votes, making it the world's largest democratic exercise.
The commission also faced petitions before the Supreme Court seeking greater transparency through polling station-wise data.
Kumar consistently rejected the allegations, maintaining that India's electoral process was transparent and that delays in releasing turnout data were procedural, as polling records and electronic voting machines had to be reconciled before final figures could be published.
He also defended the integrity of electronic voting machines, stating that there was no evidence of tampering.