The end of a remarkable era in Indian finance

Most peoplehdfc would go to London, New York or Hong Kong to find the world’s outstanding financiers. But perhaps Mumbai deserves a look. After all, it is home to three men who rebuilt India’s banking system after its enfeeblement by a wave of socialist experiments that began in the 1950s. The last of these giants, Uday Kotak, announced his retirement from Kotak Mahindra Bank on September 1st.First to retire, in 2020, was Aditya Puri, who left Citibank in the 1990s to create Bank, which is now worth almost twice as much as his former firm. Second, in June this year, was Deepak Parekh, who left Chase in the 1970s to build one valuable institution himself, in housing finance, before assisting others, including Mr Puri. Finally, Mr Kotak leaves behind an outfit that leads in areas from conventional lending and investment banking to asset management and insurance. The earliest investors in his project received unimaginable returns: a $120 stake would be worth $40m today. His company went public in 1992; its shares have since made a gain of 12,000%.