HDFC Bank has said an independent legal review into allegations made by its former part-time chairman, Atanu Chakraborty, found no evidence to support his claims, potentially clearing the path for Managing Director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan’s reappointment later this year.
The findings were announced on Friday after a three-month review conducted by international law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. along with Indian law firm Wadia Ghandy & Co. The review concluded that Chakraborty’s allegations were not supported by documentary evidence or witness interviews.
What the legal review found
According to HDFC Bank, the external law firms reviewed thousands of documents, including board and committee meeting minutes, agenda papers and other internal records covering the two years before Chakraborty’s resignation.
They also interviewed all independent directors, committee chairpersons, Managing Director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan, and several senior executives responsible for control and assurance functions.
In their findings, the law firms said the evidence they examined was inconsistent with Chakraborty’s statement that certain happenings and practices within the bank were not aligned with his personal values and ethics.
They further noted that board meeting minutes were prepared through a detailed drafting, review and approval process that gave Chakraborty every opportunity to formally record any disagreement or ethical concern. The report stated that no such concerns were found in the records reviewed.
The law firms also revealed that both HDFC Bank and the external investigators repeatedly requested Chakraborty to participate in the review. However, the interview never took place.
Summing up their findings, the firms said, “The contemporaneous evidence reviewed was inconsistent with Mr. Chakraborty’s statement, and the external law firms’ review did not identify any basis for the statement.”
The report has now been submitted to HDFC Bank’s board.
CEO’s extension may now move ahead
The completion of the legal review is expected to remove a major hurdle in the process of extending the tenure of HDFC Bank MD and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan.
Jagdishan took charge as the bank’s CEO in 2020 for an initial three-year term, which was extended by another three years in 2023. His current tenure ends in October 2026.
The bank’s board had reportedly deferred a decision on his next extension until the independent legal review was completed.
Dubai AT-1 bond issue also examined
The review also looked into the “Dubai matter,” which Chakraborty had referred to after resigning.
The law firms said they found no contemporaneous evidence showing that Chakraborty had raised ethical concerns before the board or disagreed with any board decision relating to the Dubai issue or any other matter discussed by the board.
The controversy relates to the alleged mis-selling of Credit Suisse Additional Tier-I (AT-1) bonds to retail customers, mainly non-resident Indians (NRIs), through HDFC Bank’s Dubai branch.
The bonds were reportedly marketed as fixed-maturity investments. However, after Credit Suisse collapsed and was taken over by UBS, the AT-1 bonds were written off, leading to losses for investors.
Two days after Chakraborty’s resignation, HDFC Bank asked three of its executives to leave over concerns linked to the alleged mis-selling of these bonds.
Why was the review ordered?
The legal review was initiated after Chakraborty resigned on March 18, 2026, as HDFC Bank’s part-time chairman and independent director.
In his resignation letter, he stated that certain happenings and practices within the bank were “not in congruence with his personal values and ethics,” though he did not elaborate on the allegations at that time.
On March 24, HDFC Bank announced that it would appoint independent external law firms to examine whether the concerns raised in the resignation letter had any basis, whether Chakraborty had formally recorded any dissent during board meetings, and whether such concerns had been addressed.
The investigation covered the two years preceding his resignation.
Background: Who is Atanu Chakraborty?
Atanu Chakraborty is a retired 1985-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Gujarat cadre. During his long bureaucratic career, he held several key positions in both the Gujarat and Union governments.
He served as Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs and later as Finance Secretary to the Government of India before retiring from the civil services. Following his retirement, he was appointed as the part-time chairman and independent director of HDFC Bank.
His sudden resignation in March this year attracted widespread attention because he cited ethical concerns within India’s largest private sector bank. His subsequent public remarks, including references to the Dubai AT-1 bond issue, prompted HDFC Bank to commission an independent legal review.
With the review now concluding that there was no evidence to substantiate his allegations, the matter is expected to provide greater clarity to the bank’s board as it considers key leadership decisions, including the extension of CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan’s tenure.
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