Ahead Of Merger, HDFC Opens Legacy Centre On Founder HT Parekh

Days before its reverse merger with its own banking subsidiary, HDFC on Tuesday inaugurated a legacy centre detailing its founder HT Parekh's contribution to the creation of a housing finance market in the country in particular and to his overall contribution to the financial sector.

It is called the HT Parekh Legacy Centre, housed in the Ramon House, which is the headquarters of HDFC in the city.

The centre offers a digital and photo-led history of Hasmukh Thakordas Parekh, who founded HDFC in 1978, when he was 67 years old and one year since his retirement from ICICI Ltd Chairman with just Rs 10,000 personal contribution and Rs 10 crore of borrowed money.

Over the past 46 years, the tiny startup has gone to become a financial giant with over Rs 6 lakh crore of assets under management and on merger will be an Rs 18 lakh crore-behemoth, becoming the second largest financial institution in the country.

Parekh, who was born in March 1911 in Surat and passed away in November 1994, also founded GRUH Finance and Hindustan Oil Exploration Corporation.

The legacy centre was inaugurated by Jamshyd N Godrej, the chairman and managing director of Godrej & Boyce, in the presence of Pheroza Godrej and Deepak Parekh, the chairman of HDFC, which is set to be merged with HDFC Bank from July 1.

The centre has been set up by HDFC and the HT Parekh Foundation.

The centre is a humble attempt to tell his story covering his early life, stockbroking years, building ICICI as a development bank and finally HDFC in 1977, a culmination of his lifelong dream, Deepak Parekh said and described his late uncle as "a soft-spoken giant".

His journey has been depicted in a chronological order in a visual medium that comes alive with archival documents, photographs, audio-visuals and personal belongings, covering his mentors, colleagues, friends and family, he added.

The HT Parekh Foundation is the philanthropic arm of HDFC, established in October 2012. The foundation works across rural and urban India and partners with organisations across the focus areas of education, healthcare, environment and supporting persons with disabilities.

Parekh said post merger, the foundation will continue to do what it has been doing and will be independent of the bank.